


Follow Your Heart

by dimpled_halo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Drinking, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Felching, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Jealous Harry, M/M, Miscommunication, Oblivious Harry, Pining, Semi-Public Sex, Sexual Identity, Sexual Tension, Sexuality Crisis, Smoking, Smut, but not between harry and louis, very brief zouis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-30 18:33:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 32,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10169249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimpled_halo/pseuds/dimpled_halo
Summary: “What do you mean exactly?”  Harry asks.  Louis’ heart is threatening to beat out of his chest.  His stomach is sinking, and he’s holding his breath waiting for the words he knows are coming.“We think it would be best to market you guys as a couple,” Simon tells them.  The tone in his voice makes Louis think there’s no wiggle room to even try to argue about it.Louis’ heart stops and his breath hitches.  This cannot be happening.  This has to be some sort of dream.  Actually this has to be some sort of prank, really.  He absentmindedly looks around the room for any evidence of hidden cameras or microphones to no avail.“You’re kidding,” Louis says flatly.  Louis is pretty sure a lot of the music industry these days likes to hide the fact that an artist isn’t straight, afraid that it might affect record sales and now he’s sitting in the middle of an executive label meeting being told he had to be in a relationship with his best friend–who’s a boy he’s been secretly in love with for most of his adolescence–in order to sell records?  What kind of alternate universe level bullshit is he living in?





	1. I want to be the object of your passion but it's hopeless

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god it’s finally here! Sorry but it’s taken me too fucking long to get this fic done and decent enough to publish. Anyway, I want to thank anyone who has had to hear about me and this fic for almost a year. Kera, my cheerleader and awesome friend who is always humoring me and my crazy ideas. The fic chat for encouraging me to do this and also cheering me on. Lisa for helping me shape this into something I was finally happy with even after I started over from scratch after being 15k words in. Lissie for taking a look at it for me and also giving me great feedback. KK for your amazing Brit picking skills.
> 
> Please be advised that I know nothing of how the X Factor, or the music business works behind the scenes so however it’s portrayed in this fic is fiction and all made up in my imagination. There’s a brief mention of cheating and if you need me to explain the situation better feel free to message me on tumblr [@dimpled-halo](https://dimpled-halo.tumblr.com/) and I’ll be more than happy to do that!
> 
> This fic was inspired by the Russian girl group t.A.T.u. and the Chapter titles are lyrics from their song "Malchik Gay" which is the song I was listening to in the car when this fic idea came to mind.
> 
> The title of this fic is taken from One Direction’s “End of the Day.”
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Update: I was having trouble uploading this on AO3, so I deleted it and reposted it because it wasn't posting the whole chapter.

Louis imagines some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this. Getting to stand on a stage in front of thousands of people, the echoes of their cheers ringing in their ears. The heavy stares of the cameras pointed at them from different directions, waiting to capture every moment, every reaction. The heat of the spotlights on them, the brightness almost too much, making it so that they can’t see the thousands of faces littered throughout the arena. The flush on their faces from the apprehension, the excitement, the anticipation.

This is it.

It’s the months of having to audition countless times, having people with years of experience judging their performance, criticizing and telling them what they’ve done wrong and what needs to be improved. The weeks of the pressures of having to rehearse every day with their vocal coach and choreographer. It’s months of depending on millions of strangers around the country, hoping and praying that they vote for you to be able to stay in the competition for another week. It’s letting out that breath of relief after finding out you’re safe for a bit longer. All of those moments have added up to this one single event, and Louis has never been more prepared to hear the results in his life.

Louis chances a look at his bandmate, Harry, who’s got his bottom lip caught between his teeth, his eyes full of hope with a hint of nervousness. His chocolate curls hang from his head so beautifully, the light reflects against them making him almost glow like some sort of cherubic angel sent to this earth to torture Louis. Harry catches Louis staring at him as if he’d heard his thoughts. His face brightens immediately, dimple popped out. Louis has to look away. Looking at Harry when he’s this chipper makes him feel like he’s staring at the sun, and Louis can’t look directly at him for fear of being blinded. He shakes his thoughts away and focuses on the task at hand, fixing his gaze at Olly Murs who has just been handed the envelope with the final results.

Olly holds a white envelope in his hands, preparing to read its contents. Such a small piece of paper that will change their lives forever.

“And the winner of this year’s X Factor is…” Olly opens the envelope, the tension around them is so high the room is near silent. A pin could drop in the middle of the room and it would make the loudest echo. Olly’s face lights up, “HaLo!”

Everything around Louis goes hazy as the crowd roars and he’s being hugged in every direction by everyone. Arms wrap around him and he hears faint murmurs from people congratulating him. It’s all so surreal as Louis tries to process what’s going on around him. He suddenly feels Harry’s arms on him like a weight to keep him from floating away like an untethered balloon. His arms feel so familiar, like home, grounding him on the spot. Louis finally pulls himself from his stupor to return the sentiment and embrace his best friend and bandmate.

“We did it Lou,” Harry breathes against his ear. The sensation of Harry’s warm breath makes Louis’ skin tingle, hot and humid like rain on a long summer day.

Louis’ heart swells with emotion thinking about how far they’ve come. They’d started the competition as two small town best friends from Doncaster, knowing full well there was a chance they’d either be separated as individuals or put into a group with others. There hadn’t been any duo groups in the past who had made it far, but from the beginning, Harry and Louis had promised each other they’d either make it together or not at all. And well, here they are in front of the entire country, winning the X Factor against all odds.

Louis tightens his hold on Harry, not sure he can say anything coherent, but hoping it’s enough for now. They eventually get separated as they are bombarded by people. There’s hoards of sparkling confetti glittering in the air, and Louis’s face hurts from smiling so hard. They each end up in their family’s arms, Louis’ mum won’t stop crying about how proud she is of him and how happy she is for them. In the midst of all the madness, Louis manages to catch a glimpse of Harry, who is also in his mother’s arms. And in that moment, Harry looks up from his mother’s shoulder catching Louis’ gaze, and returns the most joyful, dimpled smile.

The rest of the night passes by in a blur in the form of countless interviews and photographs. After their last interview with ITV, they get escorted to a ballroom where the finale after party is taking place, surrounded by friends and loved ones, dancing the night away. Louis is lost in the music, the rhythm making his body sway to the beat. His eyes are closed, and he’s got his hands on his friend Hannah’s hips, and she follows his lead. They grind innocently to the beat of Miley Cyrus’s ‘We Can’t Stop’, crowded by other bodies around them bumping into a few people here and there.

“I need to get a drink,” Hannah tells him. She’s fanning her face with her hand, the humidity making it hard to breathe. Louis nods and leads her to the bar, with a hand on her lower back to keep her away from drunken idiots. They get to the counter where a barman is making drinks. Louis catches the man’s attention and orders them a couple of gin and tonics and some water.

Louis takes a look around the room, sipping his drink, still taking everything in. It continues to feel so unreal to him that he finds himself pinching his arm to make sure he’s not dreaming. Every time he thinks about their win, his stomach swoops in excitement for what’s in store for them. His eyes catch a head of curly hair amidst the crowd of people. Harry’s dancing with his girlfriend Chloe and Louis can’t help but roll his eyes at the sight of her. Louis fails miserably at trying to convince himself it has nothing to do with the fact that he wishes he was in her place instead. It’s just that...Louis has sort of been in love with his best friend for nearly a decade now. It doesn’t help that they’ve been spending every waking hour together these past couple of months, but Louis wouldn’t trade the moments they’ve shared for the world. In fact, he’s sad they’ll no longer be rooming at the X Factor house. With a long sigh, Louis gulps the rest of his drink and orders another one.

Louis hates feeling sorry for himself, since he’s the reason for his current dilemma. It’s not like he hasn’t had countless opportunities to tell Harry how he feels, he’s just been too much of a chicken shit to do it. The thing is, Harry has always just had girlfriends, and Louis doesn’t think Harry is into guys. He hates to assume people’s sexualities and he’d like to think that his own best friend would share that type of information with him anyway. Harry knows very well that he can trust Louis with anything, and he’s taken advantage of that fact many times, and Louis loves it. He loves being the person Harry goes to for advice, even though at times it may make him want to jump off a cliff.

Harry is a gorgeous being--biased opinion aside--and he’s had his fair share of girlfriends. There was his first girlfriend Stacy, which didn’t even make it to three months. Then, there was Lucy in Sixth Form, who made it past the six month mark, and ended up breaking Harry’s heart by leaving him for the captain of the footie team. Louis was there to pick up the pieces though, and he did it gladly, not because he was happy to see his best friend’s heart broken, but because he liked being the person that Harry counted on to help him through the good and bad times. After Lucy, Harry swore off dating for a while, which Louis was relieved by, and he almost told Harry about his feelings then. But, at the last minute he’d always change his mind.

There was one time, a moment Louis will never forget, where he and Harry were hanging out finishing his mother’s wine. They’d sneaked up to his room where they were playing truth or dare but in reality it was mainly just truth because neither of them were willing to pick dare, too scared of what they’d have to do. There was confession after confession, and at one point they talked about the people they’d hooked up with, and Harry admitted to having been curious about kissing guys. And Louis swears he could feel the burning of Harry’s eyes on him, as if willing him, daring him even to kiss him and he feels like that right there was his opening, his fucking invitation into finally knowing and feeling what Harry tasted like. Instead, Louis had stuttered out something about having to wee and stumbled out to the loo. By the time he’d gotten back, the moment was gone. Since then, there’s not a day that goes by where Louis doesn’t beat himself up for that night, that open window of opportunity he had, and lost all in a blink of an eye.

With a last glance at Harry’s direction, Louis excuses himself to the loo. He stares at himself in the mirror, his reflection a sweaty and shiny mess. He looks tired, and he really is. He’s tired of feeling like Harry will never choose him. And it doesn’t really make sense, because Harry has no idea how he feels, but at the same time shouldn’t he just be able to tell? They’re best friends for God’s sake. Louis can read Harry like an open book, so why can’t Harry? There are times where Louis doesn’t even try to hide it. He thinks he’s made it so fucking obvious, and yet, Harry’s still as oblivious as ever. It makes Louis want to just grab him by the shoulders, shake him and yell “Can’t you see?!” Sometimes he just feels like his love for Harry radiates off of him like a solar flare, hot and deadly but unearthly beautiful. Louis is shaken out of his thoughts by the swoosh of the door opening and through the reflection of the mirror he sees it’s Harry. Harry’s face lights up, eyes bright and dimple out. Of course.

“Lou,” he says breathily with a hint of surprise. Louis freezes, as if Harry will be able to tell what he was just thinking about.

“Hey Haz,” he forces out a smile, hoping it looks genuine. Louis is a little annoyed if he’s honest. How dare Harry interrupt the thoughts he was having about him? He finishes washing his hands, running some cool water along his flushed cheeks. Harry is just standing there, staring at Louis and he doesn’t really know what to say. Harry’s stare is so intense, Louis finds himself having to look away again. “You’re being a creep,” Louis informs him.

Harry lets out a giggle, the kind that is contagious and it takes a lot for Louis not to laugh along with him. “I’m sorry, it’s just...I was thinking about our win and how...” he clears his throat fidgeting a little. He leans from one foot to the other and he gazes at Louis with such intensity he feels like his face is burning. “How I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else. Thank you for going through this journey with me, Lou,” he says. Harry bites his bottom lip and surges forward to wrap himself around Louis, who is caught a bit off guard. He recovers quickly though, and takes his arms and brings them around Harry’s shoulders.

“Me too, mate,” Louis croaks out and it fucking echoes in the empty bathroom, but Harry doesn’t seem to notice, yet again.

They eventually make their way out of the bathroom, Harry’s arm is wrapped on top of Louis’ shoulders like the heavy weight he’s been feeling all these years of not being able to tell him how he really feels. Chloe was apparently waiting for Harry outside the door, her arms crossed against her chest leaning against the wall. She smiles when she spots Harry, and Harry’s arm drops from Louis as he walks towards his girlfriend to embrace her and kiss her on her forehead. Louis walks away from them without saying a word, but as soon as he turns his back on them, he makes sure to roll his eyes as hard as he can for good measure.

The night inevitably ends, and Louis unsurprisingly ends up in Hannah’s hotel room. After they get each other off and she passes out on the bed, Louis heads out to the balcony to have a cigarette. He likes to think that smoking is what gives him his raspy sound when he sings, which seems to be what their fans love so much. The air outside feels cool against his heated skin. His body gets colder with each drag he takes, and by the time he stubs out the fag, he is shivering, teeth chattering. He pulls out his leather bound journal he always carries with him. He catches a whiff of the pungent leather as he opens it up to the page he’d left off earlier today, and writes in the phrase he’s had stuck in his head all day.

_You’re the one that I want at the end of the day._

  
The next morning, Louis has breakfast with half of his family at a restaurant not too far from the X Factor house. He’s with his mum and sisters Lottie and Fizzy, since Dan had to stay home with the two pairs of twins because one of them was sick, unfortunately.

Louis has to prepare to move out later today.

He’s got to admit though, that spending this time with his family and away from Harry feels like a breath of fresh air. They order full English breakfasts, and Louis, feeling like he hasn’t eaten in ages, wolfs down his food at record speed.

They take a walk around the park nearby, Lottie and Fizzy far ahead of Louis and his mum. His mum has a pensive expression on her face, like she’s dying to get something out, but holding back.

“Mum, just say what’s on your mind. I know you want to,” Louis prompts her. His mum startles at his comment but recovers.

She lets out a long sigh, and looks down at the ground, “Fine. I just want to make sure you're going to be okay, love,” her voice drips with concern.

Louis laughs nervously, trying his best to brush her comment off and make it look like she’s got nothing to worry about. But if he’s honest, he’s been thinking about what’s going to be in store for HaLo. Being with Harry 24/7 was hard enough to deal with, and to have to do it for the rest of his life? Well, Louis doesn’t know how much of that his heart could take.

He coughs, to shake himself from his own thoughts, “You’ve got nothing to worry about, mum. I’ll be fine.” He smiles to try and reassure her, but he’s afraid it’s coming off more as a grimace than a smile. Her face indicates he’s failed. She nods anyway, indicating she trusts his judgment--or more like allowing his illusions--which he appreciates.

He loves his mum so much and truly admires the way she trusts him to make the decisions he needs to make in his life. She’s always there to support him no matter what, and she never tries to stand in the way of his dreams, in fact, she’s always been beyond supportive of them. She encouraged him to audition even though she’d known about how he felt for Harry all these years. But she knows how Louis works, and how he deals with his feelings about the situation, and leaves him be. He’s been truly blessed with the best mum in the world, he thinks.

Louis accompanies his family to the train station where heartfelt goodbyes and hugs are exchanged. His throat tightens, not knowing when he’ll be able to see his family again, but he feels sure in this moment, this is the best decision for his future, and his family’s. Louis’ eyes moisten a bit as he waves his mum and sisters goodbye when the train pulls away from the station. His heart feels emptier now that they’re gone, and with a deep breath, he reluctantly heads back to the house to pack up his entire life for the past couple of months, unsure of what’s in store for them.

The house looks emptier, many of the contestants had moved out weeks ago, only having left the final three. Even so, the house feels almost too silent, and Louis wants to get out of there as soon as possible. In the meantime, he and Harry are moving into a hotel room while they wait for their new flat to be ready. After they won, they were told they’ve got a meeting with Simon Cowell and Company tomorrow, and Louis couldn’t be any more nervous. He hasn’t really been able to talk to Harry about his feelings about the meeting since Harry’s attention has been focused on Chloe. She helps them move out, carrying boxes and suitcases of their things into the two bedroom suite they’ve gotten. Louis is relieved they each have their own room, not wanting to have to be anywhere near Harry and Chloe’s sexcapades.

One of the unfortunate things about having Harry Styles as your best friend is knowing what he sounds like when he’s having sex. Louis isn’t proud of the way it sometimes riles him up, and makes him feel flush, filling his cock up into full hardness sometimes. And he’ll never admit how he sometimes imagines it’s him eliciting those sounds out of him. No. He usually just sticks his earbuds into his ears, and lets the music lull him to sleep.

Chloe’s only supposed to be around for one more day, well 12 more hours if you don’t count the hours they’re sleeping. Not that Louis is counting down the hours or anything. He leaves the two lovebirds to themselves as he heads out, deciding to walk around the neighborhood. The weather is bearable enough for now and he stumbles upon a cafe where he spends the rest of his evening. By the time he’s back in the suite, Harry’s door is closed, and it’s dead silent. He steps into his bedroom, his eyes feeling heavy with sleep. It’s been a long few days and he hadn’t realized how excited he is to finally have a queen sized bed to himself for the first time in months. He lets himself fall onto the mattress, the soft duvet embraces him like a warm hug. His eyes shut as if on instinct, and Louis passes out without a single thought about Harry Styles.

*

  
Harry and Louis find themselves in the lobby of Simon Cowell’s Syco offices the next morning. Harry is playing with his phone, most likely texting Chloe making sure she got home safely after taking the train back to Doncaster in the wee hours of the morning. Louis couldn’t be more relieved, if he’s honest. He flips mindlessly through a magazine he found on the coffee table and while his attention is caught by an article about how Irving Azoff’s been taking over the music industry, the sound of heels clicking against the shiny hardwood floors makes him look up. He finds a woman walking towards them, looking serious with black framed glasses and a neat bun adorning her blonde hair. She looks like she means business, wearing a severe black dress with a black shiny belt decorating her torso and a pearl necklace adorning her neck. When she finally reaches them, she clears her throat to catch Harry’s attention who was still entertained on his phone.

“We’re ready to see you,” she says, voice stern. She nods towards the direction in which she came from making her way back expecting them to follow her, which they immediately get up to do.

They find themselves in a conference room, with white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows that make the space look so bright it’s nearly blinding; Louis squints trying to adjust to the light. The table is surrounded by different men and women, including Simon Cowell, who’s seated at the head of the table. He smiles at them as soon as he sees them walk in.

“Good Morning! Please, have a seat boys,” he greets them gesturing towards the only two empty chairs that are left.

Harry and Louis nod graciously, walking towards them, making themselves comfortable. It looks like they’re in for a long meeting. All pairs of eyes are looking at them, as if they’re the first meal they’ve had in days and are about to rip them apart to pieces. An unsettling feeling gnaws at Louis in the pit of his stomach. He takes a sip of the glass of water he’s been provided in an attempt to calm himself down.

“First of all, I’d like to congratulate you on winning the X Factor,” Simon begins. “I couldn’t be happier at the outcome of this year’s competition, and I look forward to working with you.” Simon’s lips are pressed together in a thin line, his smile does not quite reach his eyes, and his watchful gaze is intent on them.

Harry and Louis look at each other and smile briefly before turning back to look at Simon, “Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Cowell,” Louis says, Harry nods along in agreement. Simon’s words don’t do much to reassure Louis. He feels like Neo in the Matrix where he’s about to be given a choice between a blue and a red pill, uncertain about the fate that awaits him.

“Before we begin I want to go around the room and introduce you to a few people. You're going to be seeing a lot of some of them so it's best you start familiarizing yourself as soon as possible,” Simon explains as he nods towards the other people seated throughout the table.

He goes around the room pointing at each person telling them their names and what they do. There's Anne Marie Thomson, Syco’s head of PR, and the woman who brought them in earlier; Simon Jones, publicist; Harry Magee, management; Conrad Grayson, lawyer; and Emily Burton, head stylist. They each talk a little bit about what their roles will be as part of HaLo’s team and what they'll expect from the boys in return.

The amount of thought that’s been put into HaLo’s images, and what’s expected from each member is something that takes Louis by surprise. He didn’t realize that everything they say, do, or even wear, is going to need approval from their team because they will be representing not only the label, but what HaLo will stand for as a brand. Harry and Louis are now the face of the HaLo brand.

After their brief introductions, they move onto contracts. Conrad gives them a run down of what the contracts say in a way that helps them understand, knowing the wording that’s used might be confusing for them. He tells Harry and Louis that they have three days to go over their contract and he's available to answer any questions they may have.

“Thank you Conrad,” Simon says, “Now, there's something else I'd like to talk to you about,” he tells Harry and Louis.

Both boys nod at Simon to continue.

There's a brief pause, Simon has his elbows on the table, hands folded against his chin. He seems to be deep in thought, his eyebrows furrowed, trying to come up with the best way to say what he needs to say. He keeps looking between Harry and Louis as if they hold the answers to the doubts that seem to be running through his mind. A nervous looking Simon Cowell isn’t a good sign, Louis thinks, feeling uneasy.

“Your popularity among the viewers of the show has been immense,” he begins, “I've never seen anything like it before. We've been tracking your mentions throughout social media and there's one thing that's been very clear since the beginning of the competition.”

Simon looks unsure about continuing what he is going to say. His eyes briefly move from Simon Jones to Anne Marie before settling back on Harry and Louis.

The odd looks being exchanged make Louis squirm, not feeling comfortable where this might be going. He just knows what they’re about to hear can’t be good if it’s making Simon this reluctant. Louis swallows hard, “What's that, sir?” He asks trying his best at keeping the trembling out of his voice.

Simon nods at Simon Jones to continue.

“Your fans have created this thing called Larry Stylinson,” he explains, “It’s a combination of both of your names, and they basically want you guys to be together.” He says pointing between Harry and Louis.

Harry and Louis look at each other, confusion overtaking their faces, and Louis’ stomach churns, feeling he knows where this might be going.

“But we are together,” Harry says, “we're in a group.”

Simon Jones chuckles lightly, “That's not what I meant. I mean they want you guys to be…. in a romantic relationship,” he clarifies. Simon Jones looks at Simon, whose face has no expression whatsoever.

Louis feels himself blush and tries to cover it up by laughing, “What?!” He tries to sound like it’s one of the most ridiculous things he’s ever heard, even though in his mind he couldn’t agree more with their fans.

“I know it seems a bit far fetched,” Simon Jones says, “But you should see the number of fans that want you two to be together. They've even got fanfictions and fanarts of the two of you. It's such a massive following that we’d be stupid not to take notice of it.”

“So what do we do?,” Louis asks, wondering why it's being brought up. He would hate to think that he or Harry could be forced to be involved in a PR relationship with famous models or C-list actresses just so that the public doesn't think they’re together. He’s heard about how celebrities engage in these kinds of relationships, and he just doesn’t think he can do it.

“Well, we talked about it extensively and we came to the agreement that, since you're a new up and coming group, the best thing to do would be to give the fans what they want,” Simon replies.

“What do you mean exactly?” Harry asks. Louis’ heart is threatening to beat out of his chest. His stomach is sinking, and he’s holding his breath waiting for the words he knows are coming.

“We think it would be best to market you guys as a couple,” Simon tells them. The tone in his voice makes Louis think there’s no wiggle room to even try to argue about it.

Louis’ heart stops and his breath hitches. This cannot be happening. This has to be some sort of dream. Actually this has to be some sort of prank, really. He absentmindedly looks around the room for any evidence of hidden cameras or microphones to no avail.

“You're kidding,” Louis says flatly. Louis is pretty sure a lot of the music industry these days likes to hide the fact that an artist isn’t straight, afraid that it might affect record sales and now he's sitting in the middle of an executive label meeting being told he had to be in a relationship with his best friend--who's a boy he’s been secretly in love with for most of his adolescence--in order to sell records? What kind of alternate universe level bullshit is he living in?

“I can assure you, I’m not kidding Louis,” Simon tells him, his face showing no hint of humor.

“Trust us, this isn’t how we would be launching your careers if we thought there was another way,” Ann Marie speaks up, crossing her arms, looking at them pointedly, clearly not happy with the decision “Our best shot at having HaLo have a successful debut in the U.K. is having you guys act like you’re together, maybe even have some songs where you sing to each other about falling in love or something. If all goes according to plan, we can maybe even talk about breaking the U.S. market, but that’s still ways down the road. We have to see how well you do here before we even consider America.”

Louis’ head spins hearing Ann Marie speak. Singing to Harry about falling in love was the kind of thing Louis would dream about when he wrote the songs the curly headed boy inspired into his journal. Never did Louis think it’d be something that would turn into a reality. The thought of being successful in the U.K. is stressful enough, Louis had no idea America was even in the cards for them. Knowing that there’s a possibility of crossing over to America makes Louis feel dizzy.

The meeting continues, with presentations from Simon Jones about their social media presence among other things. Emily also talks about their images, ready with ideas of how they will want them to dress and present themselves to the public. It’s a lot of information to take in and as the meeting begins to conclude, Louis’ brain feels heavy with information overload. He hasn’t been able to concentrate on much else after they dropped the initial bomb on them. Throwing random glances at Harry from time to time, he doesn’t seem concerned at all. He’s actually taking notes, which makes Louis wonder when he had the time to even find a damn notepad.

“I know it’s a lot of information to take in,” Simon says, “Please take a few days to look over the contracts and think about it. Contact me or Conrad if you have any questions while you think things over. We’ll meet back here on Friday morning ready to hear if you wish to continue and sign with us or not.”

After being dismissed, Harry and Louis leave the conference room with their contracts in hand, Louis feeling like they’ve just been given an insurmountable load to carry over their shoulders. He feels like his legs are leaden and heavy, his head cloudy from all the information to process after the intense meeting. They push the button to call the lift and wait in silence. Louis looks at Harry from the corner of his eye, he has his hands in his pockets staring down at the floor. He must feel just as overwhelmed with information. They ride the lift and take a taxi to the hotel in continued silence. Louis wants to say something, but doesn’t want to interrupt Harry’s thoughts, despite dying to know what Harry thinks about all of this. What does he think about Larry Stylinson? Does the idea of pretending to be in a relationship with him scare him, or thrill him a little like it does to Louis?

Louis can only imagine the things running through Harry’s mind, if his own thoughts are anything to go by. Louis already thought being on this journey with his best friend was going to be hard enough, having to shove his feelings aside. But now that they’re being told they’ll have to pretend to be a couple? It’s like someone’s got a look into Louis’ worse nightmare and decided to make it into a reality. He can only imagine what they’ll have to do to sell their ‘relationship’ and Louis’ heart sinks. This isn’t how he wanted things to go with Harry. Louis doesn’t want his first kiss with Harry to be something that they’re both being forced to do to sell a narrative. In Louis’ dream, Harry would kiss him willingly and they’d get lost in each other, not even wanting to come up for breath, being consumed in the feel and taste of Harry’s lips. Louis’ mouth waters just imagining what he tastes like, but he quickly shakes those thoughts away. Because now more than ever, that’s not how it’s going to happen. Now, it will most likely be in front of cameras and fans, and Louis just fucking hates that that’s how it’ll most likely play out.

They finally arrive to their hotel, and when they get closer to their room Harry finally breaks the silence. “Do you want to hang out and order room service for dinner to discuss everything?” He asks Louis. He looks tired, his eyes look a bit droopy and his curls are in disarray, but there’s a glint of hopefulness in his eyes.

“Why don’t we rest a bit first? We have three days to talk about this and we just had a shit load of information thrown at us. Let’s sleep on it first and then we can talk about what’s on our minds and go over everything.” Louis suggests. He really just wants to go take a nap and get rid of the heavy feeling in his chest, he also has a headache he’d very much like to go away.

Harry immediately deflates, his face falling and dimple fading. “Yeah, alright,” he says, taking his key card out of his back pocket to unlock their room. With a long sigh, Louis makes his way to his room, plopping onto his bed not bothering to take off his clothing, letting sleep overtake his thoughts. He doesn’t come out for the rest of the day.

*

Louis is startled awake by his alarm clock the next morning, having forgotten to turn it off the night before. With a grumble he stretches out his arm to shut it off and reluctantly gets out of bed, knowing he won’t be able to go back to sleep.

He opens his window to have a quick cigarette, not wanting to run into Harry just yet if he were to go out to the balcony. He takes a nice long shower, letting the steaming water cascade down his body, welcoming the sting it causes. Settling for sweats and a hoodie, he takes a deep breath before heading out to the common area, his body feels heavy with dread at the conversation that awaits him. He knows Harry has probably been up bright and early waiting for Louis to wake up so they can talk about the contracts.

Sure enough, Harry is sitting at their little dining area, munching on fruit. There’s an array of breakfast foods including eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and bacon. There’s also a large bowl of any fruit you could think of and a kettle with the fixings to make tea. However, there already seems to be a tea prepared and waiting for him.

“Good morning!” Harry says bright and chipper when he sees Louis standing in the doorway, “Come have breakfast. I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I ordered a bit of everything since we’re not the ones paying for it,” he smirks.

Louis walks over to the cart of food, “I can see that. Thanks.” He takes a plate and piles it up with food and some fruit (Harry likes to play mother hen and make him eat his fruits and vegetables) before he takes a seat across from Harry. He grabs the tea and takes a sip of it, it’s prepared just how he likes it of course, even if it’s a bit cold. Louis tries not to feel guilty about trying to avoid this talk as long as possible, knowing Harry had expected him to be up earlier.

They spend some time eating their breakfast in comfortable silence, the tension that Louis had felt the day before slowly slipping away, which makes him feel better about what they’re about to discuss. They start with the easier topic: the contract. Spending the next few hours going over each detail of the contract, trying to understand the lawyer lingo to the best of their abilities. They find themselves calling Conrad a couple of times to clarify a few things. After they’re finished, they discuss it amongst themselves. They weigh out the pros and cons and ultimately decide that the probability of them getting another opportunity like this is very slim.

They inevitably talk about the huge elephant in the room, and discuss what them being in a ‘relationship’ might consist of and the possible ramifications.

“What will Chloe think? Do you think she’ll be okay with all of this?” Louis starts, his stomach tightening nervously. He might not be the girl’s biggest fan, but he also doesn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable with this situation she didn’t ask to be a part of.

Harry huffs like it’s the most ridiculous thing Louis has asked, “She’ll have to be Lou, you’re my best friend and she knows she has nothing to worry about.” Louis internally rolls his eyes at the irony.

“It will help that she was never featured on the show,” Harry continues, “the public has no idea we’re dating, which will help us sell our ‘relationship’,” he says making air quotes with his fingers.

Louis nods along, “Yeah,” he says rubbing his palms against his thighs. His mind is racing. All he can think about is how it’s going to feel to have to sell a relationship that he desperately wishes were real when Harry seems to be taking it completely in stride. His heart is racing and his skin feels clammy. He watches Harry as he flips through the mass of papers spread out all around them. Harry. His best friend, bandmate and now, boyfriend? Fake boyfriend. Right.

“So does this mean we’re going to agree to pretend to be together?” Louis finally asks, dreading the answer he knows is coming.

Harry snorts, “Of course, Lou. That’s the least of our worries. I’m more concerned about what I’m going to be signing with these contracts,” he says looking back down at the legal documents in front of him.

Louis chuckles nervously, not really knowing how to respond to that. It’s so much more, at least to him. But Harry seems to be more focused on everything but the relationship question. Louis sighs, knowing that, for now, he needs to get back down to business, analysing and understanding the contracts that will rule their lives for the foreseeable future.

As Harry chews on the end of a pencil, and Louis forces himself to look away from his plush pink lips, he can’t help but think there’s no way this will end well for them--well for him-- since Harry isn’t the one that’s in love with his bandmate. He quickly pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind, instead looking at the documents in front of him that might as well be in a foreign language.

 

*

  
On Friday when they meet with Simon and the rest of the team, it doesn’t feel as intimidating as it did the first time. He’s obviously still somewhat nervous, the uncertainty of what’s to come hanging over his head, but all in all, Louis feels pretty good about their decision to sign with Syco. By the time they finish with the paperwork, there’s a lingering ache on his wrist from the amount of times he had to scribble his signature on the pages.

They’re quickly thrown into the studio, as the label wants an album released by autumn. Harry and Louis are introduced to Julian Bunetta, who’s a well-known producer in the music industry. Julian’s got a couple of demos ready for them, so they all sit on the couch in the small production room as he plays them the tracks. They listen to the songs in silence, the tunes resounding through the speakers. Louis looks over at Harry and is relieved to see he’s making that same face as him. These songs are not the sound HaLo is going for at all. The lyrics are good, but the music, it’s just too bubblegum pop for them, he thinks. Louis hopes they have some say in the sound of their band, but he knows that the ultimate decision will be up to the label. The songs end, and Julian looks at them expectantly after having asked their thoughts.

Louis clears his throat and runs a hand through his fringe, “To be honest Julian, I just don’t feel like these songs are the sound HaLo is going for. The lyrics are great but everything else just doesn’t seem to fit to what we’re about,” he tells him honestly.

Julian nods along in understanding, “Yeah I know what you mean and that’s okay. These are just demos, and we can definitely play around and tweak them to something that’ll be closer to HaLo’s sound.”

“Really?” Harry asks seeming surprised with Julian’s response.

“Of course, I mean ultimately the final decision will be up to the label, but I don’t see them not approving any songs that don’t sound like the group the public has fallen in love with. The label would be stupid to try to change that.” Julian’s reassurance makes Louis relax. He can feel the tension in Harry’s shoulders next to him ease as well and he feels a lot more comfortable about the whole situation, and with that, they get to work.

Louis becomes fascinated by the album writing process. He finds himself looking forward to his writing sessions with Julian and Harry, especially when it’s just him and the producer. Louis finds that Julian really brings the best out of him as they create beautiful lyrics. He can’t wait until the actual recording process begins to see how the songs will turn out. Louis has been tempted to bring his journal with him a couple of times, but has talked himself out of it at the last minute. He’d love to hear Julian’s feedback, but at the same time he’s afraid he’ll think they’re shit and Louis isn’t ready to hear that yet.

One day on a whim (and in a rush because they were already running late) he takes the journal with him. He leaves it on the table they’ve been using for their creative process, but doesn’t bring any attention to it. After a few hours of working on a particular song, they decide to take a small break to refresh their minds. Louis steps outside to have a quick smoke, while Harry goes to find a more private place to return Chloe’s phone call. When Louis returns, Harry’s yet to return and it’s just him and Julian in the studio. At this point he thinks he should just rip off the plaster and get it over with. Whether the feedback is good or bad, it will help him grow as a writer, right? Louis takes the leather bound journal into his hands and glances at Julian, who’s taking notes on something.

“Um..Julian?” He begins, and why is his voice shaky? Louis takes a deep breath to calm his racing heartbeat.

Julian looks up from his notes, “What’s up man?” His eyes fall to the journal in Louis’ hands.

“So I’ve got a few things that I’ve written on my own, thought maybe I’d show you and see if any of it is worth using,” he says nonchalantly, though internally he’s trying not to lose his shit. Because Louis is about to show years of written words, to one of the more famous producers in the music industry, like what is his life?

Julian’s face lights up like a Christmas tree, “Oh, that’s great! Let’s see what you’ve got,” he says as Louis hands him the notebook.

The producer flips through the pages at such a slow pace, Louis can hear his pulse, hard and heavy, hammering in his ears. No one has ever seen what he’s written, not even Harry. (And he should hope not, a lot of the songs are about him anyway.) Louis feels like he’s on the edge of a precipice, holding his breath and waiting, anxiously waiting for Julian’s reaction. Julian has a warm smile on his face, but he’s silent and nothing else on his expression is giving anything away. And Louis doesn’t know how much more he can take. Finally, finally, Julian looks at Louis and he’s shaking his head with the biggest smile he’s ever seen.

“Why have you been holding back from me?” he asks incredulously.

“What?” is all Louis can manage to say because, he’s not sure what Julian is trying to ask him.

Julian’s eyes are wide and his mouth is all teeth, he looks between the journal and Louis, “This stuff is incredible. Why didn’t you bring it sooner? There’s a lot we can work with.”

And Louis didn’t expect that reaction at all. Not that he thinks poorly of his stuff or anything, just, not good enough to garner a near speechless music producer. Louis finally lets out a breath of relief, feeling so happy that he’s gotten positive feedback.

“I especially love this one,” Julian tells him, running his fingers through the journal again and pointing at the song he’s talking about. It’s the one he finished the night they’d won.

“Yeah?” Louis asks, still a bit in shock.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got some work to do,” Julian says just as Harry joins them again.

“What did I miss?” Harry asks, his eyebrows furrowed in curiosity. Julian glances at Louis and winks at him. Louis’ not sure what that’s supposed to mean.

“Not much, I think we’ve got our first single,” Julian says with a smug smile.

From then on the rest of the writing feels like a breeze. They end up using quite a few of Louis’ songs and Julian helps bring them to life with his knowledge and expertise. They finish the last touches to what they decided to call ‘End of the Day’ and the label loves it so much they agree, it’s the first single.

Louis is elated. His body is thrumming with excitement when he hears the news, him and Harry embrace in a celebratory hug. They’ve got a single in place and more than enough songs written to start recording their debut album. It couldn’t get any better than this.

*

Right before they’re set to begin recording music and vocals for the album, the boys are encouraged by their team to exchange flirty messages between each other and even hint a few things about the album. Louis doesn’t need to be told twice, he’s so excited to share what they’ve got in store for their fans, he immediately gets to work on tweeting a line from their first single ending it with #EOTD. Harry is the one that initiates the twitter flirting, by tweeting Louis when they’re sitting right next to each other catching some tv. Louis responds by stating that he’s slowly being seduced by his curls, and it takes off from there. They send each other sappy tweets including nicknames like “pumpkin” and “sweet cheeks”. Their fans don’t miss a beat and are fast to like and retweet, replying with heart and rainbow emojis, gushing about how cute they are. And Louis can’t help but imagine what it would be like if he were really Harry’s boyfriend. Before they know it, HaLo’s got nearly a million followers and there’s something related to “Larry” trending nearly every day.

One night, Harry and Louis are laying on the couch together, having had a Breaking Bad marathon for the past four hours. Harry’s head is on Louis’ shoulder and he doesn’t realize how late it’s gotten until he hears the soft snores coming from his best friend. When he turns to look at Harry, he’s got his eyes closed and his mouth is hanging open, drool pooling onto Louis’ favorite grey jumper, but he doesn’t care. Harry looks so beautiful that Louis wishes he could capture this moment and keep it forever. Harry’s just so soft and perfect, his eyelashes are long and cast shadows against his cheeks. His fluffy curls cascade around his head, like caramel swirls that Louis finds himself having trouble looking away.

He eventually nudges Harry awake, who wakes up dreary-eyed and a bit confused, looking like a disgruntled kitten who’s been interrupted from its nap.

“Time is it?” He asks in his sleep heavy voice.

“Almost 3am,” Louis tells him, “Come on, let’s go to bed.” Louis helps Harry up to make sure he’s got his balance and the younger boy complies.

Louis makes sure Harry gets into bed, and shuts the lights off before he heads out to his own room.

“Hey Lou?” Harry’s voice stops him in his tracks.

He turns around to face him, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed, “Yeah?”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you that I really love the songs that you wrote,” he tells him. He smiles, his dimpled smile, and even though the room is dark, the moonlight shining through the window reflects against Harry’s skin so beautifully, making him almost sparkle.

Louis blushes, and he’s thankful that it’s too dark for Harry to notice, “Thanks, Haz.”

“Are any of the songs about anyone in particular?” He inquires, pulling his duvet up to his chin, his eyes set on Louis.

Louis fidgets from one foot to the other, letting silence fill the room for a few moments until he finally breaks it, “They might be,” he admits, letting out a sigh.

Harry hums, “I hope one day I inspire someone to write such beautiful melodies,” he mutters.

Louis turns around so that his back is facing Harry and whispers to himself, “You already have,” before shutting the door behind him and heading back to his own room.

 

*

When Harry and Louis head to the studio the next day to start recording the tracks, it’s suddenly a full house. There’s three guys they’ve never seen before hanging out in the recording booth. When they notice Harry and Louis’ arrival, the blonde haired one from the group brightens up with a wide smile. He quickly walks towards them, his arm extended before he even gets to them.

“Hi! I’m Niall, your guitar player, it’s nice to finally meet ya,” He tells them, turning to nod for the other guys to come over. “These here are the other guys in the band, Liam here is on keyboard and Zayn there is the drummer,” he explains.

Liam shakes their hands, he’s got a shy demeanor to him that Louis is sure he can tease out of him due time. And Zayn, well Zayn’s a fucking Adonis. He’s got black slicked back hair, tattoos decorate his tanned arms and his nose is pierced. His eyes are a dark amber, and Louis’ mouth goes a bit dry at the sight of him. Louis extends his arm out to him, “I’m Louis, nice to meet you.”

Zayn’s lip quirks up, “Me too, Louis,” he says and his voice is deep, the rumble of it making the hairs in the back of Louis’ neck stick up. Louis smiles coyly in return.

Harry elbows Louis, shaking him out of his daze, and when he turns to look at his bandmate, his eyebrows are raised in question. Louis gives him a noncommittal shrug.

Harry and Louis sit in and watch the guys go to work, seeing what they’ve got and they’re good. The three of them flow so well together, Louis sees why they were chosen to be their band.

Overall they end up having a great day with the new guys recording and laying down tracks. By the end of the day, Louis feels like he’s known these boys for ages with how comfortable he feels around them. They all decide to go out to dinner together at Nando’s. Louis excuses himself to go out for a smoke after ordering his food, and Zayn joins him. Zayn offers Louis a light, and they hang out in comfortable silence for a few moments.

Louis wants to get to know Zayn more, his mysterious bravado makes him want to learn everything there is to know about him. He’s nervous though, because he doesn’t want to come off as too needy or weird, and it’s throwing him a bit off his game. Louis has had small crushes here and there--pining for Harry can get a bit taxing--and he’d like to think he’s a great catch if he says so himself. Zayn would be very lucky to have someone like Louis crushing on him.

“Did you know Liam and Niall before getting chosen for the band?” Louis inquires, desperate to make any kind of conversation with Zayn. The bloke is so freaking quiet Louis feels like he’s got no choice but to be the one to initiate the contact.

Zayn takes a drag of his cigarette and shakes his head, “Nah mate, we met at auditions. They’re cool lads, we got on right away.”

Zayn’s semblance is mesmerizing and Louis feels captivated by his cinnamon tanned skin, and quiet brooding manner. The way he wraps his lips around the butt of the cigarette makes Louis bite his bottom lip to keep himself from thinking what else he’s used those lips for. Zayn’s voice interrupts his dirty thoughts.

Louis clears his throat, “What?”

“I said, are you ready to go back inside? I’m sure our food’s been ready,” Zayn says, with a knowing smile on his face. And fuck. Louis blushes furiously and pretends he doesn’t know that Zayn must know what he was just thinking about.

“Uh...yea, let’s go.”

As they head back to their seats, Louis feels the warmth of Zayn’s hand against his lower back as he helps guide him. He sees Harry staring at Zayn’s hand on Louis, and Louis is sad to admit that he wishes it was jealousy Harry was feeling.

*

  
It’s finally moving day for Harry and Louis and there’s a mixture of excitement, apprehension and laziness radiating through Louis today. He’s excited to finally have a place he and Harry can call their own, where they can have meals together, and host dinner parties and such. But he's also nervous. Louis is afraid that living with his best friend, sharing so much with him on a daily basis, will only cause his unrequited feelings for Harry to become more intense. Not that they haven’t been basically living together for the past several months during the X Factor, but this feels different. And well, he’s feeling lazy because Louis would just like to hire movers to do all the work, but they’re not famous popstars yet. The upside to all the moving is that their families are in town helping with the stuff they had in storage from home. Harry also recruited the guys from the band, who were introduced to their mothers and have hit it off quite well.

Their flat is so much better than the type they’d be able to afford if they didn’t have a recording contract. It’s one of only four in the building, which gives them more than plenty of room. They’ve got the lounge area and kitchen/dining room on the first floor and there’s stairs that lead up to Harry and Louis’ rooms right across the hall from each other and their shared bathroom with connecting doors in between. Harry’s excited about their kitchen because it’s got a good sized island and a wine chiller which Louis has no clue about, but then, Harry is the wine snob, not him. Apparently the oven is also great, but again, Louis wouldn’t have any idea about it. He can cook the basic stuff like spaghetti and he specializes in cheese toasties. He’s also great at following recipes, but don’t ask him to cook it from memory because his mind would go blank at that. Louis lets Harry have the bigger of the two bedrooms, because he knows the other closet won’t be nearly big enough for Harry’s massive boot collection. Louis’ favorite part, though, is their balcony, which has a great view of the London skyline, which is a great alternative to not being able to see the stars at night on the polluted sky.

It’s not long before their families have to head home, leaving the five men to do the rest of the work. Louis tries to avoid the manual labor and helps guide the others on where to put things, and does the unpacking. He’s bending over a box full of his old comic books trying to figure out how he’s going to organize them when the sound of someone clearing their throat catches his attention. He turns to see who it is and watches Zayn leaning against the doorway and the look he’s got on his face makes Louis think his thoughts aren’t so pure.

“Like what you see?” Louis teases with a quirked eyebrow as he wiggles his bum playfully.

Zayn laughs, but Louis can see a faint blush creeping on his face, which makes him mentally pat himself on the back.

“Harry sent me up here to help you unpack since we’re done with all the lifting,” he says. He catches a glimpse of the box Louis is working on and his face brightens, “Is that The Amazing Spider-Man?!” He rushes over to Louis, plopping himself on the floor--which must have hurt his bum--and starts digging through the stacks of comic books. “These are sick mate.”

Louis starts at Zayn’s outburst, since it’s the loudest he’s ever heard him. He chuckles and joins him on the floor as he continues to watch Zayn’s excitement over the contents of his comics, “Yeah I’ve collected them since I was about ten, I’ve got boxes of them,” he says pointing to the five other boxes scattered around the room.

“No way!” Zayn says, shaking his head in amazement. “I didn’t start my collection until I was a teenager so mine’s a lot smaller.”

After spending nearly an hour fawning over the different issues Louis has collected throughout the years, they finally get to work on organizing them. They divide them by super hero and place them into magazine holders--Zayn promises to draw each superhero logo on the holders another time--and they stack them on his massive bookshelf. They unpack the rest of his stuff, moving and arranging his furniture where Louis wants it. They break out into a styrofoam peanut fight, which morphs into a wrestling fight. Louis is atop of Zayn straddling his hips, stuffing peanuts down his shirt when Harry walks in, catching them both off guard.

His voice has a hard edge to it that Louis isn’t used to. “Sorry to interrupt all the fun, but I ordered a couple of pizzas and figured you might be hungry,” Harry says, not looking amused at all, his mouth in a hard line and brow furrowed so deep, the line between his eyes is deep and harsh. He turns around and leaves without another word.

“Well, I guess that’s our cue, come on,” Louis says, suddenly feeling very awkward and almost as if he just got reprimanded by his mum or something. He stands up and extends his arm out to help Zayn get up. The peanuts he had stuffed in his clothes all empty onto the floor, making them both giggle at the sight. Louis can’t remember the last time he had so much fun just goofing around with someone.

When they join the rest of the group the others have already started to eat without them. Louis can feel Harry’s gaze following him as he walks over to the cupboard to grab him and Zayn plates, but he ignores it. Sometimes he does that, he’ll feel Harry staring at him like some sort of sixth sense and it makes his entire body shiver, but he brushes it off because Harry’s always been known to be a starer, and with Louis it’s no exception.

“Hey Lou, I saved you a seat,” Harry says, patting the chair next to him, and Louis feels as if his eyes are silently challenging him, warning him that if he doesn’t sit there there will be dire consequences. Louis laughs nervously and plops down next to his best friend.

“So what are we talking about?” Louis asks, taking a bite out of his pepperoni pizza.

Harry puts his arm around Louis’ shoulders, which takes him by surprise because they’re not really touchy feely around the other lads as opposed to when they’re on their own and like to have a cuddle here and there. Harry’s arm envelops him like his favorite jumper, warm and comfortable . To be honest, Louis isn’t even sure if they know that he and Harry aren’t really together, but he guesses they might not, which would explain Harry’s behavior. “Niall and Liam here are having a discussion on who’s a better superhero, Batman or Superman.”

“And like I was saying, Batman is obviously the better one because he doesn’t need to have supernatural powers to kick ass,” Liam explains.

“But having the superpowers is what makes Superman so powerful, Liam,” Niall insists, and that’s how they spend the rest of their evening. The discussion involves mostly a back and forth between Liam and Niall, and Louis joins in on occasion. Zayn also shares his own opinion on the matter, agreeing with Liam, and ultimately they all agree to disagree on the matter. Harry doesn’t move his arm from Louis one bit through the entire argument.

Eventually the conversation changes when Niall suddenly lights up, eyes wide at his realization, “You guys should have a house warming party!”

Harry and Louis look at each other, “What do you think, love?” Harry says, running his fingers through Louis’ hair giving him chills. Love? Louis doesn’t think Harry has ever called him that.

“That’s a great idea, Nialler,” he smiles, trying not to show how much Harry’s touch is affecting him, “I can invite my mates Stan and Oli from back home, and Harry you can invite Chloe and Johnny, what do you say?”

Harry looks a bit unsure at the mention of Chloe’s name, biting his bottom lip nervously, “I don’t know about Chloe...” he says.

“What do you mean?” Louis asks and Harry’s eyes widen, his eyes move towards the other guys nervously.

“We know you guys aren’t really together, mate,” Zayn speaks up and Harry’s face falls and he drops his hand from where it was on Louis.

“You do?”

Zayn chuckles, “Yeah, we had to sign NDAs, so don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us. You can invite your girlfriend,” he smiles smugly. Harry glares at Zayn for a split second, before just shrugging, and Louis is confused over the entire exchange.

 

*

  
The next weekend finds them all gathered together in the new flat, with people in almost every corner. Not only did they each invite their hometown friends, but Niall apparently knows every single person in the London area, because nearly everyone that knocks on their door states that they’re here for Niall. There’s music playing, courtesy of DJ Malik, and there’s plenty of booze to last them the rest of the year, or at least well into the morning. Their kitchen island is full of all sorts of alcohol ranging from beer to Jose Cuervo to some kind of mystery punch. Louis fills his plastic cup with a bit of tequila and the rest with orange juice. It’s his third, or is it his fourth? He’s not really sure, he kind of lost count after Niall went around the room making everyone do shots of Jaeger with him. Louis regrets it already, but he sips on his concoction anyway. He’s not driving, and is taking advantage of that fact, thank you very much.

He decides he needs some fresh air and a cigarette, for that matter, so he steps out to the balcony, the cool spring night air hits him and it feels like he’s breathing for the first time all night. After lighting up the fag, he leans against the rail, admiring the beautiful view of the city, looking like fairy lights scattered throughout the ink colored sky, it’s breathtaking.

“All partied out?” Louis starts at the sound of Zayn’s voice. He turns to look at him, cigarette already lit in his hand.

Louis smiles, “Nah mate, just needed some fresh air, that’s all.”

“Cheers.”

They’re not alone, there’s a few other people having conversations by the patio furniture, but it’s all quiet murmurs. They both stand there in silence, their gazes spanning over the the view, and Louis feels good. He’s a bit drunk, and he’s got this warm feeling in his belly and his face and he’s just great. Louis hasn’t even bothered to think about Harry and where he is, no doubt with Chloe somewhere, but for the first time in a long time he feels like he actually has a pretty good chance at moving on. He’s got this gorgeous bloke standing next to him, who’s been throwing him all sorts of signals that Louis’ been catching on to and he thinks he could be happy. Now, he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself because he’s still completely and utterly in love with Harry, but one step at a time is all Louis needs. Baby steps. So without another word Louis leans his head on Zayn’s shoulder, and not even a minute later, Zayn wraps his arm around him and they stay there, comfortably quiet finishing their cigarettes.

The night dwindles down, and Louis is officially drunk. After coming back inside he and Zayn had been coerced into another shot with Niall, this time tequila, and it was all downhill from there. Somehow he was dragged into a game of beer pong with Stan and a girl he’s trying to impress. After that things get a bit blurry, and he finds himself in the kitchen guzzling on a water bottle as if he’s been out in the desert for days.

“Lou!” He hears his best friend before he sees him and oh God. Harry’s a drunk mess. His curls are a disheveled mess, his eyes are glazed over and he’s got the prettiest pink flush decorating his cheeks. Louis’ heart skips a beat. Harry’s just so beautiful.

“Hey Haz, having a good time?”

Harry brightens, giving Louis a dimply toothy grin, “The best! I just beat Niall at flip cup! Can you believe it?”

Louis sputters, “You’re kidding, you’ve got the coordination of a drunk baby deer Harry, how could you have possibly beaten Niall at flip cup?”

“I know right?” Harry says, seemingly unbothered by Louis’ comment, “Niall must be more smashed than I am.”

“He must be,” Louis agrees and they both giggle. Louis offers Harry a water bottle, which he gladly takes. “Where’s Chloe?”

Harry is drinking from the plastic bottle, his lips are wrapped obscenely around the opening, giving Louis some very dirty mental images. Harry just shrugs, sucking on the bottle even harder, making his cheeks hollow out and his lips look plump and pink, his eyes heavily lidded. Louis bites his lip subconsciously. He’s too drunk for this, he thinks. He feels his cock twitch in interest and he thinks he should get out of here before he lets his mind wander into very familiar, albeit often suppressed territory.

“Well, I’m gonna go join the lads,” Louis says, pushing himself off the counter he was leaning against. If he doesn’t leave in the next minute, he’s going to sport a very awkward boner, and he’d like to avoid that as much as possible. Before he can go anywhere, though, he’s caged in by Harry with one hand on each side on the counter, not giving him any room to go anywhere. Louis can feel the heat from Harry’s body radiating off him, definitely not helping his current situation. Harry is so close, any sudden movement will have their bodies touching. Louis looks up at Harry and his gaze is intense, his eyes are nearly burning through him and Louis can’t decipher what they’re saying. He’s confused, and hot, and so fucking in love with his best friend he can hardly breathe. His mouth is dry, and he feels like he needs a really cold shower right about now.

“You okay, Haz?” He asks, voice wobbly, and he doesn’t even care. He’s lucky he was able to even say anything coherent.

Harry’s lips move towards Louis’ ear torturously slow, and Louis has to remind himself to fucking breathe. “I’m great, Lou,” he whispers. The heat from his breath makes Louis nearly lose his balance but he manages to hold himself up against the counter. Harry’s nose runs along Louis’ sweaty neck, like some sort of puppy. “You smell so good, Lou,” he says, “Like coconuts...and sweat, I love it.” His voice is low and deep in Louis’ ear and it takes everything Louis has to stay still. He doesn’t say anything in return because how the fuck is he supposed to respond to that? Harry returns to face Louis, their faces so close Louis can feel his eyes cross and his vision blur, Harry’s alcohol laced breath mixing with his own. Harry opens his mouth to say something when they both startle apart from an unwelcome--at least on Louis’ part-- interruption.

“There you are babe, come, we’re going to play spin the bottle!” Chloe shrieks, and Louis is relieved and annoyed at the same time. He feels like he was just released from being tortured.

Harry glances at Louis with a raised eyebrow, his voice a bit more hoarse than usual,“You up for it, Lou?”

“I’m up for it, Harold,” he chokes out before guzzling the rest of his water, suddenly feeling more sober than before. He wills his half hard cock to behave as he follows Harry into the lounge.

At this point, most of the guests have gone home and it’s just the bandmates, Chloe, their hometown friends, and the girls Stan and Johnny have been pulling tonight. Everyone is already sitting around in a circle in the middle of their lounge, the couches have been moved against the far wall to leave plenty of room for everyone to sit comfortably. There’s an empty bottle of Grey Goose in the middle of the circle, and of course, Niall’s the one leading the game. When Harry and Louis take their seats (Harry between Chloe and Johnny and Louis between Liam and Stan) Niall spins the bottle for “practice”.

“Okay, rules are whoever the bottle lands on that’s the person you’ve got to kiss, no exceptions,” he instructs.

“Oh for God’s sake Niall, we know how to play spin the bottle,” Louis groans, “Just get on with it.”

Niall cackles, “Okay I’ll go first and we’ll go clockwise,” he says before finally taking a spin. The bottle lands on Liam and Niall grumbles, “Of course.”

“You said no exceptions, Niall,” Louis reminds him.

“I know, I know, I’m not backing down,” Niall says. He looks at Liam and winks, “Ready, sweetheart?”

Liam rolls his eyes and crawls over the circle, “Come on let’s get this over with.”

It’s a small peck on the lips, so quick you could have missed it in a blink. And the game goes on. They go around the circle and each turn becomes even more funny. Stan had to kiss Oli, Liam kissed Maggie (Johnny’s girl), and Chloe kissed Jesy (Stan’s girl). It’s Harry’s turn and low and behold the bottle lands on him, because of course it fucking would. Louis has just been a bucket full of luck lately hasn’t he? Louis catches Harry looking at his lips, which makes him self consciously lick them. He watches Harry’s lips part and can’t help but feel a shiver of interest run down his spine.

Suddenly, Harry laughs, eyes darting around at the room full of their friends, “Come on boyfriend, let’s show them what we got,” he teases but his eyes look nervous and Louis doesn’t blame him because he’s feeling the same way. The thing is, yeah, Harry and Louis are close friends and share almost everything together, but they’ve never actually kissed on the mouth. They’ve kissed on the cheek, and sometimes Louis will kiss Harry atop his head, but never has he dared kissed him on the lips. (He’s not counting that almost time all those years ago because Louis likes to block that memory out of his brain.) Harry crawls to Louis, and it’s like everything’s going in slow motion, or maybe Harry’s just crawling really fucking slow to avoid the kiss as long as possible, who knows. And when Harry’s finally in front of Louis, their faces lean towards each other like magnets, and Louis just can’t take it anymore so he moves in fast. His lips brush against Harry’s quick and painless, but soft. So, so soft. When Louis pulls away Harry still has his eyes closed.

“Come on Hazza, we don’t have all day,” Niall moans, and Harry’s eyes shoot open and he fumbles but eases backward on his hands and knees, a pale pink flush spanning his cheeks.

Harry laughs as he returns to his spot next to Chloe, but Louis notices that it doesn’t reach his eyes. He idly wonders what that means but decides he’s drunk and probably just making things out of nothing. So they continue with the game, and eventually it’s Zayn’s turn. And again, the bottle lands on Louis.

Stan whistles, “Looks like it’s Louis’ lucky day,” he teases and the rest of the group giggles and whoops in response. Louis laughs nervously, and his heart beats rapidly in anticipation. He sees Zayn and he’s got a self-satisfied look on his face, as if he’d used his mind to control the bottle, forcing it land on him.

“Alright, alright, settle down,” Louis tells them, waving his hands, “Come on Zayn.”

Louis is the one who crawls towards Zayn and without question just goes in for the kiss. It’s also soft, and as Louis is about to pull away, Zayn’s hand grabs the back of his head holding him in place, making the kiss longer. Zayn parts his lips open in invitation, and Louis instinctively obliges, the quick kiss morphing into a full on make-out session. Louis hears the whoops from the others, but he’s too focused on Zayn’s lips to even care. Zayn tastes of cigarettes and mint, like a refreshing cool winter night. When his tongue makes it into his mouth, it’s warm and wet taking the breath out of him. By the time Zayn finally lets go of him, Louis is a panting mess.

“Not bad,” Zayn says looking smug.

“You know it’s the best kiss of your life, don’t even try to deny it,” Louis counters, and they all laugh.

“Excuse me,” Harry tells the room as he gets up, face pinched and red as he walks out towards the kitchen.

Louis excuses himself as well to check on his best friend, letting Chloe know he’ll take care of it. Harry’s been acting strange tonight, and he’s sure a good portion of it has been influenced by the alcohol, but Louis still wants to make sure he’s okay. He walks into the kitchen and there’s no sign of Harry anywhere, so he decides to check the balcony, and bingo. Harry’s got his hands on the rail, staring at the midnight sky and when he sees Louis approaching him he doesn’t say a word.

“You okay?” Louis asks barely a whisper, not wanting to disrupt the silence surrounding them.

Harry doesn’t speak, shoulders shrugging in response instead.

“Okay…” Louis isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Another shrug.

“You’re gonna have to use your words here Haz,” Louis tells him.

Harry lets out a long sigh, “I just…I feel like I’m losing you, Louis.”

Louis’ eyebrows scrunch up in confusion, “What?” Because that’s one of the last things he was expecting. They’re not only best friends, but also bandmates and roommates, so he doesn’t understand what Harry’s talking about.

“It’s like I feel that I’m losing my best friend,” Harry tries to clarify. His eyes haven’t left the London skyline, almost like he’s scared to look at Louis’ reaction, “With all these new people we’ve been meeting I feel like we’re drifting apart, and it’s killing me.”

Louis’ body fills with guilt, his eyes tearing up, because, shit, he never meant for Harry to feel that way. “I’m sorry, Harry.” He doesn’t really know what else to say, doesn’t know what’s making Harry feel this way.

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t cling to you so hard either, it’s just taking some getting used to, having to share you with the world and all,” he smiles, and then he’s finally looking at him. His eyes are filled with unshed tears and Louis hates that he was the cause of that.

Louis lifts his hand to caress Harry’s cheek, “Hey, none of that, alright? I’m your friend first and foremost, and if you’re ever feeling like this, I want you to be honest with me, okay?”

Harry looks down at his feet before meeting Louis’ eyes and nodding. Louis hugs his best friend, his face nuzzling Harry’s neck smelling the cherry blossom body wash he loves so much. It’s his favorite scent on him, and he inhales as much of it as he can.

“So are you and Zayn like a thing now?” Harry asks, his voice sounding oddly hesitant to Louis. Louis’ head is resting on Harry’s shoulder and hums in response.

“Not really. There’s been lots of flirting, and a kiss,” Louis admits.

“Yeah, I saw the kiss,” Harry says, his tone bitter and short. Harry seems to backtrack, adding on, “it was quite steamy.”

Louis giggles, ignoring Harry’s initial tone, “Yeah I guess it was. Who knows...we’ll see. He’s so fucking hot though.”

“What about me?” Harry leans away to look into Louis’ eyes, “Am I hot?” His voice sounds small, unsure.

Louis smiles, wanting nothing more than to reassure his friend, “You’re not hard on the eyes. I’d say you’re a good piece of eye candy,” he winks.

“Heyyy.”

Louis laughs, hoping that he’s done what he could to appease Harry. He hates thinking that he could have hurt him, it’s the last thing he’d ever want to do. As he grabs Harry’s hand in his own, feeling the warmth spread right up his arm and through his body, he says reluctantly, “Come on Haz, we’re being terrible hosts, let’s go back inside.”


	2. Every time I see you I crave more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: When I posted part 1 yesterday I was having issues with AO3 causing it to only publish part of that chapter. The issue has been fixed, so if you read that part make sure you don't miss the rest of it! Thank you and enjoy :)

Monday morning finds the boys of HaLo sitting in a cold conference room with their team. They’re discussing the treatment for their music video for “End of the Day” today and Louis is looking forward to it, not just because it’s their first music video, but also because it’s the song that Louis wrote, and they’re bringing it to life. He’s excited to see what the people they’ve hired have come up with, hoping they give the song the justice it deserves. They’ve been stuck in the studio for the past few weeks recording vocals and they’re glad to be somewhere different for a change. They’re nearly done with the recording process, which is why they were called to this meeting because Simon wants a video ready to go as soon as they’re finished with the album.

They’re introduced to Jack Williams, the director who has prepared the treatment for the music video for them. He’s got an enormous storyboard filled with all sorts of images that someone meticulously drew into each section. Louis can’t even begin to try and decipher what it means, so he patiently waits for Jack to get to that point, and when he finally does Louis’ heart falls out of his ass. Jack goes on to explain that the music video will consist of Harry and Louis playing best friends who go to the same school. Harry’s character has a girlfriend, and Louis is going to play the guy who’s pining over his best friend. Harry will play the guy who’s in denial about his true feelings for Louis. They’re all going to the school dance and in the end, Harry finally gets his shit together and ditches the dance with Louis running away into the night. By the end of the song Harry and Louis are going to be making out pretty heavily outside in the rain for dramatic effect. Louis wants the ground to swallow him whole at the irony of the whole scenario this director has come up with. It’s like he took a look into Louis’ mind for inspiration or some shit.

“Is this all set in stone, or is it just an idea?” Louis asks, voice shaky. He coughs, clearing his throat, all the while hoping and praying it’s just one of many ideas they get to choose from.

Jack chuckles, “This is good and ready to go, pre-production has already begun and has been approved by Mr. Cowell,” he informs them.

“Great,” Louis deadpans, but quickly tries to cover up his annoyance with a smile, trying to look excited but inside he feels like he’s dying. He knew that agreeing to all of this would come and bite him in the arse, but for some reason he thought he’d still have some time before he was put in this type of situation.

By Wednesday it’s up and at ‘em, when they have to wake up at the crack of dawn, ushered by their new bodyguard Alberto, into an SUV. They drive for a few hours to a town in the middle of nowhere. Since they’ll be filming for a couple of days they’re checked into a hotel where Harry and Louis have to share a twin room.

Louis’ stomach has been in knots since Monday, having trouble getting a decent night of sleep, too nervous about this day. The anticipation became a bit too much this morning, Louis’ nerves finally getting the best of him as he wretched last night’s dinner.

Harry and Louis settle into their temporary room and are instructed to meet on set in an hour. Louis takes advantage of that time to catch a quick nap, and it looks like Harry has the same idea as the younger boy falls onto the opposite bed like a starfish. The sight of those unruly curls is the last thing Louis remembers before he passes out.

When they arrive at the set, they’re taken into the dressing area where they’ll also have their hair and makeup done. The first scene they’re filming will consist of shots of Harry and his “girlfriend”--an aspiring actress named Lily Rose--doing different things together while Louis plays the pining best friend watching them from a distance. Louis feels that he won’t have to reach very far to act that part out.

They aren’t set to film the kissing scene until night falls, and the later it gets in the day the more the nerves eat at Louis’ stomach. As soon as the sun sets his whole body is shaking, and he’s not able to stay still for a moment. Louis is given a head’s up when the director informs him that they’re setting up for his and Harry’s kissing scene, and his heart rate increases. The boys are in hair and makeup getting dressed up in suits since they’re supposed to be at the dance before they run away together.

Louis hasn’t really talked to Harry much today, both of them too busy being led to different places, never finding time to be by themselves. He hasn’t been able to check on Harry and see how he’s doing, no doubt probably also nervous. He might not have feelings for Louis but he assumes this could be just as nerve-wracking having to kiss his best friend for the first time in front of a whole crew while being recorded on video.

After they’re all done getting ready, they’re on standby, waiting for the crew to finish setting up. Harry is sitting on his chair fidgeting, tapping his foot subconsciously while biting his lip nearly raw.

“Hey Haz, you okay?” Louis asks. Harry pretty much looks how Louis feels on the inside. He’s always been better at hiding his feelings, having plenty of years of practice, and Harry has always been the type to be an open book, always wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Harry shakes his head, “Um, actually I was thinking...You know, I was thinking we didn’t really talk about this,” he says.

Louis feels his stomach drop, “What do you mean?”

Harry takes a deep breath, “I mean we didn’t talk about what we were going to do for this scene. Don’t you think we should have practiced or something?” He asks with an inquisitive look on his face.

Louis feels his own face heating up, suddenly feeling like standing in the middle of the rain is a great idea. “I guess so, to be honest, I didn’t really think about it,” he says looking down at his feet.

“How about we practice a little now while we wait?” Harry suggests, sounding unsure.

Louis bites his lip, his stomach swooping violently at what he thinks Harry is suggesting. He’s sure his cheeks are reddening by the minute, “What did you have in mind?”

Harry seems to be lost in his thoughts for a moment before he shakes himself out of them. “How about we just practice kissing, so that we don’t do it for the first time in front of the cameras and it won’t look awkward?”

Louis’ pulse is picking up, he can’t believe this is really happening. “Oh-ok,” he stutters out.

Harry flashes a satisfied grin, “Okay, let’s go somewhere a bit more private so that we can get more comfortable,” he suggests looking around them and taking in their surroundings. Louis feels like he’s on another planet as he watches Harry take him by the wrist and pull him out of the room. Harry sounds self-confident and assured as he tells Sofie--Emily’s assistant--that they’ll be right back in case someone comes looking for them. They enter the men’s bathroom, Harry locking it behind him. Louis feels a cold shiver run through him.

“Okay so how do we do this?” Louis asks, embarrassed by how turned on he sounds. Louis has in mind how he’d like for this to go. He’s lost count of the amount of times he’s imagined his first kiss with Harry. Never did he think he’d be doing it in front of cameras for all their fans to see though.

Just as Louis was about to repeat himself, he’s interrupted by the warmth of Harry’s mouth on his. He’s startled at first, but on instinct, parts his lips, inviting him in. And this is so very different than the night they played spin the bottle. Harry’s lips taste sweet and a bit earthy, like his favorite cup of tea. Louis responds with his own lips, moving them swiftly to fit perfectly with Harry’s. Kissing Harry shouldn’t feel this life-altering, they are only practicing after all, but somehow it does.

Louis’ eyes are closed and he lets himself get lost in the feeling of this wonderful moment. Harry brushes his tongue along Louis’ bottom lip as if asking for permission, and when Louis opens his mouth to let him, Harry can’t lick into his mouth fast enough. Louis gasps, letting his tongue brush against Harry’s, doing anything he can to memorize his taste for all eternity.

He feels Harry’s hands on his hips, pulling him closer, and Louis lets him. His hands instinctively make their way up to wrap themselves around Harry’s neck. His fingers play with Harry’s curls while he continues kissing him. To Louis, it feels like they’re starved for it, neither one making any move to pull away. If anything, Louis just feels himself move closer to Harry, as their chests touch each other, leaving no room for anything but the heat of their bodies. Harry’s hands travel down to Louis’ bum, covering each cheek with his massive but firm hands. Louis can’t help the whine that his throat releases, loving the feeling of being manhandled by his best friend. The sound seems to spur Harry on as he squeezes gently, again eliciting the same noise out of Louis.

The room feels hotter somehow, all of the air sucked out, making it hard for Louis to breathe anything but Harry. Harry has his hands on Louis and Louis is pulling Harry’s hair and the kissing is reaching a near frantic stage. Louis’ mind cannot begin to process how this is happening and he never wants it to end.

A loud knock on the door sends Louis crashing back to earth.

“Guys, they’re ready to film the next scene,” Sophie says from the other side of the door. They’re both startled out of their haze, looking at each other, with reddened and bitten lips. Louis can feel Harry’s erection pressing into his thigh and knows his is equally as impressive.

“We’ll be right there,” Louis informs her trying his best at not sounding as affected as he feels. “Good practice,” he tells Harry, “Looks like we shouldn’t have a problem in front of the cameras.” He says, clearing his throat, trying to ignore his boner. He walks to the sink and splashes some cold water on his face, trying to cool down and get rid of his little problem.

“Yeah,” Harry mutters, following Louis’ actions and avoiding his eyes. It feels oddly stilted and definitely awkward between them as Louis tries not to think about what it means.

They make their way back to the set, the crew waiting for instructions from Jack. Thankfully, the first few takes are just of them at the “school dance” where Harry and Louis exchange intense glances with each other. Louis feels that it’s fairly easy to do given how he’s feeling after their “practice session”. He wants to know what Harry is feeling. If Harry feels as off kilter as he does.

Next, they get to the part where Harry runs toward Louis and pulls him away from the crowd, opening the double doors wide open as they run away into the night. Jack calls cut right after they run out of the door, because they need to set up for the rain. They only wait a few minutes, getting their hair and makeup fixed, as the crew turns on the water and makes sure the lighting is just right. Louis steals a few sidelong glances at Harry but Harry is looking everywhere but at him.

When Jack finally calls action, Harry and Louis run out of the building again, but this time around, the rain is pouring outside, instantly soaking them both. While they’re moving, they’re lip synching the lyrics from the song that’s playing loudly in the background, and everything just feels so surreal. Here they are, filming their first music video, and Louis’ about to snog with his best friend and the love of his life--for the second time in one day. If someone would have told Louis this is what his life would be like a couple of months ago, he would have told that person to fuck off. But this moment is just as real as his love for Harry is and right now, in this very moment, Louis feels happy, elated even. He might not have the guy he wants, but he’s pretty damn close.

Louis thinks that if this is as close as he’ll ever get, he’d still count himself being the luckiest guy in the world.

“And cut!” Jack calls, shaking Louis out of his thoughts. He focuses on the task at hand, and realizes that the time has finally come. He notices that the nerves are gone. It’s like he’s reached this peaceful state where he’s just accepting things as they are. It is what it is, he thinks.

After another hair and makeup check, and reassuring Jack that they’re ready for the next shot, he calls action. And before Louis can even think about his next move Harry dives into a kiss. It feels like picking up where they left off in the bathroom and it feels so cliche but Louis wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything in the world. Louis knows this is all part of the act they’d been told to play, but he can’t help but feel the butterflies flutter in his stomach every time Harry so much as touches him. Harry’s hands are firm and grounding and his tongue is insistent as Louis lets him lick into his mouth. He tries to think of other things, like his nan or that time he ran over a fox, to keep himself from popping another boner in front of the whole crew. That, and the icy cold rain pouring over them, seems to do the trick so far as they continue making out in the middle of a field. But still, it’s hard not to be affected by Harry and the way he’s holding him, like he’ll never let go.

Jack calls cut right as Louis feels himself getting half hard and instructs them to do the same thing again, so that they can get shots from different angles. He encourages them to continue doing what they’re doing, that their chemistry is great on camera. Louis’ cheeks pink up to their own volition at that. He wonders if it’s really just acting for Harry, but quickly pushes those thoughts away. Harry is continuing to avoid eye contact with him when they’re not filming, and Louis knows it probably has to do with him not feeling comfortable kissing him. He tries not to feel disappointed at that, and carries on, wanting to get this day over with so that he can go back to their hotel and wallow in his own self pity, maybe even get drunk.

They get back into position and this time, as soon as the director calls action, Harry nearly lunges towards Louis kissing him more passionately than before. Louis thinks Harry is trying to give it his all so that they don’t have to do more takes and can get this over with, so he decides to kiss back with just as much fervor. Louis nibbles on Harry’s bottom lip, making Harry let out a small whine he’s sure only he could hear. This spurs Louis on, so he uses his hands to pull Harry closer towards him. Harry kisses down Louis’ jaw and throat, working his way down his neck. Louis’ breath hitches when he feels Harry’s teeth trailing along his heated skin. If Jack doesn’t yell cut soon this might start looking more like the beginning of a porno than a music video, he thinks. He subtly pushes Harry away a little to get a bit of breathing room, before he starts sporting another erection. Louis manages to make eye contact with Harry for just a moment and his eyes are so dark he doesn’t see the green in them anymore. Harry quickly closes his eyes, diving in for another deep kiss, his hands roaming all over Louis’ body making him writhe in pleasure.

“Cut! Great job guys, that’s a wrap for the day,” Jack calls, “Back here in the morning, bright and early.”

The crew quickly disperses to tear down the set, and Louis sighs in relief, gladly accepting the bathrobe Sophie offers him. He turns to see what Harry’s doing, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

“He’s gone,” Sophie tells him. “He said he had to get out of here, grabbed his clothes and robe and sprinted off.”

Louis’ heart sinks, his throat burns and he’s trying to look nonchalant even though deep down inside he feels his heart breaking a little more.

As he’s walking away, he hears Sophie call out, “Great work, by the way, looked really convincing.” He pushes back the bitter tears that threaten to spill and just waves over his shoulder instead.

Later that night, Louis is nearly passed out in bed. After having a pity party for himself full of greasy food and ice cream, he decided to call it a night. He’s feeling that being asleep is better than being awake at this point, making it more difficult for his brain to think about the day’s events and Harry. Harry, who was nowhere to be found when Louis got back to their room, still isn’t back. Louis didn’t bother texting or calling him, feeling he might just need some space. He lets himself give into sleep, letting his eyes shut closed.

Louis is woken by the hotel door slamming open, and his heart jumps at the loud noise. He doesn’t move, pretending to still be asleep, wanting to give Harry his space. He hears whispering and murmuring, instantly realizing that Harry isn’t alone.

“Shhh!” He hears someone say. “My roommate's asleep so you’re going to have to be very quiet,” Harry warns the person, in an over-exaggerated loud whisper, letting out a breathy giggle. No doubt, Harry is completely sloshed, Louis thinks.

He hears a woman’s muffled giggling and feet stumbling, “Okay sorry,” she says. It suddenly gets quiet and all he hears are what sound like lips smacking, and moaning.

  
Well this is just great, Louis thinks. Harry’s brought Chloe down, not only without telling Louis, but now they’re going to hook up with him only a few feet away. Louis shuts his eyes tightly, wishing he had his own room. Damn PR team thinking getting a room together was a good idea for “appearances” and to go along with their “narrative”. Louis would like to shove that narrative right up their arse right about now.

“Take off your shirt,” the girl says. Okay, that’s definitely not Chloe. Louis would recognize that nasally voice anywhere and that’s not it. Holy shit. Harry’s cheating on Chloe with god knows who. There’s some rustling noise, and a thump, then more smacking noises.

Louis can’t take it anymore, he turns around and flips on the lamp. “Are you seriously going to hook up with someone while I’m literally three feet away from you?” He gives Harry his most menacing look hoping Harry gets how frustrated and angry he is.

Harry has the audacity to roll his eyes, and after a long sigh he says, “I guess I can’t now that you’re awake.”

Louis humphs as he gets out of his bed. “You know what? Have at it, I’ll just make myself scarce!” He fetches his cigarettes, a jumper, and his duvet and heads out to the balcony making sure to slam the door behind him for dramatics. He can’t believe this is actually happening to him right now. It’s cold outside since the sun has long been set, so Louis throws his jumper on and wraps himself in the duvet, cuddling into the couch outside. He takes a cigarette out of its pack and lights it up, smoking quick drags to help warm him up.

A tear manages to escape from his eye, and he quickly wipes it away. He’s angry at Harry, and at himself for these feelings he has no control over. He wishes getting rid of his feelings would be as easy as erasing a chalkboard. Removing them from his heart when they’re no longer wanted. But he can’t do that, and so he has to live with it. He wonders if he’ll have to get used to these type of hook ups from Harry, especially now that they’re gaining so many new fans. Will they have to come up with some sort of arrangement? How would that affect the narrative they’re trying to sell? Will the girls have to sign an NDA? Not only is he pissed about Harry being so insensitive interrupting his sleep but clearly he’s not thinking of the effect that random hook-ups will have on their careers.

So many questions run through Louis’ mind, and before he knows it he’s already smoked through his cigarette. He throws the butt away, and lights another in one swift movement, not wanting to breathe anything but the chemicals. He wants to feel the burn in his lungs, trying to cover up the burning he’s feeling in his heart.

He hears the balcony door opening, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t bother looking to see who it is, knowing it’s Harry, no doubt. He can see him lingering in the doorway through the corner of his eye, and he can feel Harry’s gaze burning through his skull.

“I’m sorry,” Harry says. He sounds small, guilt seeping through his voice. He doesn’t move from his spot, but Louis can see that he’s shifting nervously, albeit a little wobbly from whatever alcohol he’s consumed.

Louis snorts, “For what exactly?” He can’t help his snappy tone. “For completely avoiding me after we kissed? For running out of the set as soon as they wrapped up without even telling me? Or for bringing a girl to the room, and trying to hook up with her right next to me?”

Harry walks towards him and sits on the opposite end of the couch, keeping his distance from Louis. He isn’t looking at him, his shoulders are slumped and his head’s bowed down, his feet seeming more interesting than anything else at the moment.

“For everything. And for the record, I made her go home after you stormed off. Nothing else happened,” Harry murmurs.

“Look, Harry,” Louis begins nudging Harry’s leg with his foot to get him to look at him, “You’re my best friend okay? And we’re in this group together. We’ve only got each other to lean on here. We have to be able to count on each other when we’re struggling with something, we’ve only got each other to trust, no one else. The second that trust is broken, well, HaLo is as good as dead.”

“Yeah,” Harry nods along in agreement.

“It seemed like you were uncomfortable with the kissing on set, and that’s okay, but you’ve got to tell me these things. I can’t read your bloody mind. If space is what you need from me, I’ll give it to you. We’re spending so much time together, I know we’re bound to get on each other’s nerves. There’ll be no hurt feelings on this end if that’s what you need,” Louis continues.

Harry is quiet, still not looking at Louis. He seems to be troubled by something if his furrowed eyebrows are anything to go by. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Louis says moving closer towards Harry.

Harry doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, and Louis can almost see his thoughts forming beneath the loose curls scattered all over his head. “How did you realize you were into guys? Like in addition to girls since you obviously like them too.” He asks, looking at Louis with curious eyes.

Louis is caught a bit off guard, not really expecting Harry to ask him about that. Harry knows Louis is bisexual, but they’ve never really talked about it. Louis hasn’t really had a serious relationship, just dating here and there, having been more focused on school and music. Harry is pretty much the only guy Louis has truly ever had feelings for, but Harry doesn’t know that. He used to think he was in love with Hannah back in sixth form, but that quickly died down, especially after meeting Harry later that year.

“I’m not really sure. I’ve always felt attracted to both guys and girls, but in my early teens I really started to question it you know? I would wonder, like, why I was attracted to guys but also attracted to girls. I’d wank to thoughts of both, but I didn’t really know much about bisexuality at the time. When I was about 15 I watched Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time,” Louis chuckles at the memory, “It may sound cliche but watching that taught me that it’s okay to have sexual or romantic feelings towards both males and females. It really put me at ease and after doing some research online it helped me make sense of some of the things I’d been feeling. From then on I’ve thought of myself as bisexual I guess. Of course, eventually, hooking up with guys and girls reaffirmed what I already knew to be true.”

Harry doesn’t say anything for a while, so Louis gives him time to process what he’s said. He lights up another cigarette while he waits.

“Thank you,” Harry finally says wrapping his arm around Louis’ shoulders and nuzzling his nose into his hair.

“Anytime, Curly,” Louis responds taking another drag of his cigarette. They stay that way, cuddled up together for a little longer, both looking out at the night sky. The stars are shining so bright, and they bask in it because they don’t get to do this back in the city.

Harry let’s out a long sigh, “I’m going to have to tell Chloe about that girl,” he says, guiltily, while rubbing his hand up and down Louis’ arm.

“She’s not gonna be happy, but if you’re honest with her and show her how sorry you are, maybe she’ll give you a second chance,” Louis assures him trying his best to comfort him.

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Harry says not sounding too convinced. “You ready for bed?”

“That depends,” Louis says, “Is your little friend still here?” He raises his eyebrow playfully.

Harry rolls his eyes, “Come on Lou, let’s go,” he says standing up and holding his hand out for his best friend.

“Fine,” Louis relents, taking Harry’s hand and making their way back into their room.

They end up in Louis’ bed cuddling each other, Harry as the little spoon. Harry falls asleep the second Louis runs his fingers through his soft, silky curls. Louis stays up a bit longer thinking about their earlier conversation, and wondering why Harry had asked him about his sexuality. His mind goes to a place he quickly dismisses, not wanting to get his hopes up. Louis has come to realize that being in love with Harry Styles means having to manage your expectations, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Louis’ eyelids finally begin to feel heavy so he reaches over to turn off the lamp light, nuzzling into Harry’s neck and falling asleep easily. The scent of cherry blossoms and smoke lull him to sleep.

  
*

After they wrap up the music video by the end of the next day, they boys decide to sleep in the following morning, not bothering to set up an alarm to disturb them since they’ve got the next few days off. By the time they finally wake up, it’s almost noon, so they drive home and go out to eat at a pub not far from their flat. They decide that after their little spat the other night, they’re going to do a “best friend day”, making plans to go to see a film and have dinner at their favorite restaurant. When they arrive to the cinema, they decide to catch the new Batman VS Superman movie, stocking up on junk food before heading to their seats.

Everything seems like it’s back to normal, and Louis is happy to have his best friend again. The screen is pretty empty, since they purposefully decided to go to an earlier screening, wanting to avoid the crowds. The film is a bit boring at first, but eventually it picks up and Louis finds himself sucked into the happenings of Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent.

There’s several occasions when Louis catches Harry looking at him, but thinks nothing of it. He runs his hands through his fringe and subtly tries to touch his face to feel if there might be anything on it. He also runs his tongue through his teeth for any remnants of popcorn kernels in between them. Right when Wonder Woman makes her dramatic entrance to help the other super heroes, Louis feels the warmth of Harry’s arm around his shoulders. He looks at him through the corner of his eye, and notices that Harry won’t stop shaking his leg nervously. Louis leans into the embrace and rests his head on Harry’s shoulder, feeling the tension ease from Harry’s body as they continue to watch the rest of the film.

After the film, they head to the restaurant for dinner. They decide to walk there since it’s just a short distance away, and they could use the fresh air after having been in a stuffed cinema for nearly three hours. They talk about their favorite parts from the film, eventually turning it into a debate about whether Ben Affleck makes a good Batman or not. They decide to agree to disagree in the matter, and laugh it off, when Harry suddenly grabs Louis’ hand. It catches him totally off guard, and he’s confused at first, looking down at their conjoined hands. He looks at Harry questioningly, but doesn’t say anything. Harry just shrugs and they keep walking.

Louis decides not to think anything of it, they fell asleep cuddling each other in the same bed last night, so holding hands isn’t really a big deal. Plus, in case anyone happens to recognize them, it would help sell the story that they’re together. Louis just smiles as they continue walking in comfortable silence, pretending for just that moment that he and Harry are an actual couple on a date.

After dinner, they take a cab back to their flat, and Louis doesn’t really want their day to end. They’ve had such a great time at dinner, just joking around and being themselves again. It felt great to be able to forget about all the media, and their label, and just be Harry and Louis for a change. Not the Harry and Louis that are being sold to the general public, but the boys from Doncaster who would sneak out in the middle of the night to go to the lake to gaze at the stars and talk about their dreams. Sometimes they’d sneak out to smoke weed, and Harry wouldn’t stop whining about having the munchies so they’d silently try to raid his food pantry for snacks trying not to wake up his family. Those were the days.

“What do you wanna do now?” Harry asks Louis after entering their flat. He follows Louis to his room and flops down on his bed, staring at the ceiling waiting for Louis’ response.

“I’m gonna go outside for a smoke, wanna join me?” Louis replies, gesturing to the pack of cigarettes in his hand and his pink lighter.

“I’ll join you in a moment, I’ve got to take a wee first,” Harry tells him. Louis nods and heads outside.

The air is brisk, but it feels nice, the sun having just set no more than an hour ago. By the time Louis has finished his cigarette, Harry still hasn’t joined him outside, which he doesn’t think much of at first. He decides to stay out a little longer, leaning on the rail just admiring the view and getting lost in his thoughts. He decides to check his phone, as he hasn’t really tweeted anything for a couple of days. He tweets about their day at the cinema knowing it will make their fans happy. He also decides to give his mum a quick call to check in, as well as sending Hannah a text. By the time he’s finished it’s been almost an hour that he’s been outside and there’s still no sign of Harry.

Louis goes back inside and he finds Harry on the phone, his face looks guilty and his cheeks are flushed. It seems like the person on the other line is really letting it out on him so Louis decides to grab his duvet and go back outside to give him his privacy.

Louis hears the patio door sliding open a moment later, but he doesn’t look up, too caught up in an intense game of candy crush (he’s been on this level for ages). Harry flops down on the couch next to Louis and buries his face into his shoulder.

“Are you alright, love?” Louis asks, putting his phone away.

“I’m fine,” Harry says, his voice muffled. “Chloe and I just broke up.”

Louis puts his arm around him bringing him closer, “What happened?”

Harry exhales, “I told her about the other night, about the girl I brought back into the room and she flipped.”

“I’m sorry Haz, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be alright,” Harry says looking up at Louis. Their faces are really close to each other, he can feel Harry’s breath on him. Not to mention the burning gaze he’s giving him.

Louis clears his throat, “Okay, well how about we have something to drink,” he says quickly getting up from his seat to get some distance. Being so close to Harry is so fucking intoxicating, Louis needs to get a grip on himself, he thinks.

“Sounds good,” Harry murmurs.

They end up raiding their kitchen cabinets for some of the leftover alcohol from their house warming party. Louis gets his hands on an unopened bottle of Jose Cuervo, gathering a couple of shot glasses and limes as well, and Harry being the lame ass he is, settles for some hard lemonade.

“Oh come on, Harold, you just got dumped, you need the hard stuff,” Louis tells him, handing him a shot. They quickly swallow them down, and suck on lime and salt, drinking the hard lemonade in between to chase the burning liquid.

“Let’s play a game,” Harry suggests taking a sip of his lemonade.

“What kind of game?” Louis asks, intrigued.

Harry thinks about it for a moment, tapping his index finger against his lip, “How about never have I ever?”

Louis snorts, “Be ready to get wasted,” he teases.

“Hey…” Harry whines.

Louis waves him off, “Alright, you go first then.”

“Okay. Let’s see...Never have I ever...given a blowjob,” Harry says with sly smirk on his lips.

“Not fair Harold,” Louis says but takes a drink anyway. “My turn. Never have I ever been dumped over the phone.” Louis giggles.

“Oh so that’s how it’s going to be?” Harry says, “Alright,” he takes a sip of his drink. “Never have I ever, had my mum walk in on me while getting head!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Louis says taking a sip, “That was one time! She came home early!”

Harry is on the floor laughing.

“Oh, you think it’s funny? Fine then. Never have I ever, shown my arse to the entire school!” Louis challenges.

“Oh my God, you did not just go there, Lou!” They’re both on the floor cackling. Harry takes a drink. “It’s not my fault my trousers decided to split in half when I bent down to pick up my book off the floor.”

“I’m sure you’ve also learned your lesson about not wearing underwear,” Louis tells him.

They laugh for a while longer and take another shot. They’re both pretty buzzed at this point, Louis feeling warm and fuzzy. His cheeks feel hot to the touch, and he knows he probably looks flushed, but he feels great.

“Your turn Harold,” Louis tells him nudging him with his foot.

“Okay let’s see...Never have I ever been in love with a man,” Harry smirks, dimple on full display.

Louis’ smile falls, this game is suddenly turning into something he wants no part of. He looks down at his drink, thinking he could easily lie. But he doesn’t, so he downs the rest of his drink.

“Whoa, slow down there,” Harry says, the humor gone from his voice. He must have noticed Louis’ reaction.

Louis immediately brightens up, not wanting to damper the mood, “Okay, mum,” he teases, pouring himself another drink.

“Hmm...Never have I ever been in a long-term relationship,” Louis says.

“Oh, fuck off,” Harry says, jokingly taking a sip of his drink. “Never have I ever, bottomed,” He says smiling wickedly.

Louis giggles, “Well Harold, joke’s on you because I have never done that,” he says taking a drink anyway.

“You haven’t?”

“Nope,” he replies.

“Why not?”

“Just because I like dick, doesn’t mean I’m going to sleep with just anyone. Sure I’ve messed around, given a blowie, and stuff, but doing more than that...call me old-fashioned but I don’t want to go there until I’ve found the right person,” Louis admits.

The mood seems to have gotten more serious than intended, Harry stays quiet thinking about Louis’ answer.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Always.”

“What’s it like? Like being intimate with a guy?” Harry asks. His eyes look eager to know the answer as if Louis holds the secrets to the universe.

Louis can’t help but chuckle, it probably has a lot to do with the alcohol. “I don’t really know how to answer that. I mean, intimacy is intimacy, the only difference is who you’re with. Everyone experiences it differently no matter what equipment the other person might have down under.”

“Do you have a preference? Like, do you prefer guys or girls?”

“For me personally, not really. I’ve experienced great sex with both, but I don’t know, my opinion isn’t set in stone, it might change,” Louis shrugs, naturally thinking about how great sex might be with Harry. He blushes and shakes his head, the movement making him a little dizzy.

Harry smiles in response, but the smile doesn’t seem to reach his eyes. He seems to be deep in thought, his thighs against his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees. He leans down to rest his chin on them.

“Is something on your mind Haz?” Louis asks.

Harry takes a deep breath, he isn’t looking at Louis and his eyes are focused on one of the empty bottles on the floor.

“It’s just...you know the other day, during our video shoot? Well, I guess, even before that when we were in the bathroom practicing for the video. I just felt different,” Harry admits.

“What do you mean?” Louis asks encouraging Harry to continue, holding his breath, feeling like the entire planet was slowing to a halt.

“When we kissed, I felt...I just felt like all the kisses I’ve experienced in the past couldn’t add up to this one kiss I was experiencing. And I was kissing a boy. I never thought I’d feel like that kissing a boy, and it sort of freaked me out at first,” Harry takes a drink and runs his hand through his hair, “That’s why I left so quickly. That’s why I went to find a random girl to hook up with. I guess I was trying to prove to myself that I wasn’t into guys. But then, just talking to you about it these past couple of days has made things clearer for me.” He let out a long, deep breath before continuing, “And I’m pretty sure I’m bisexual.”

Louis let out the breath he was holding, and moves closer to Harry, their sides brushing against each other and he mirrors his seated position. This isn’t about Louis at all right now, this is all about Harry needing his best friend during this huge self-discovery. Louis puts his own feelings aside to be there to support his best friend and what he’s going through right now. Louis remembers when he was going through the same thing, and he wishes he’d had someone to help him through all the questions he had. This is his opportunity to be the person Harry needs for support right now.

He places his arm around Harry’s shoulders, patting him comfortingly, “No matter what, Hazza, just know that I’m here for you, yeah?”

Harry lays his head on Louis’ shoulder letting out a sigh. Louis feels Harry's whole body go soft, like he's letting go of a horrible weight. He sags into Louis, letting his friend support him. Louis knows Harry still has a lot to learn about himself, but right now, in this moment, he feels grateful that he’s with him on this journey of self discovery.

They sit there in comfortable silence for a while, indulging in each other’s company. Louis feels like something has changed between them, and he isn’t sure if it’s good or bad. But he doesn’t want to worry about that right now, he just wants to enjoy this time with his best friend, the person he loves most.

Then Harry turns to look at him, and his gaze is burning with desire. His pupils are blown, and Louis feels nervous being under his scrutiny. He feels confused by it, but he finally gains the courage to return the stare, wanting to be there for his friend no matter what his feelings may be. And in what seems like a flash second, Harry lunges forward to crash his lips into his own. It’s like coming up for air after being submerged in water for too long. Harry’s lips feel like that fresh air and he can’t get enough of it. He quickly opens his mouth in invitation and Harry’s tongue seems to take it more than willingly.

The kiss turns heated after a moment, filthy noises spilling out between them as they cling to one another, exploring each other relentlessly. Louis doesn’t want this to end, even if it isn’t more than a drunken decision from Harry, something he’ll most likely not remember in the morning. Louis knows its rash, but he wants to make the most of it, even if it means pretending nothing ever happened the next day. He’s willing to take anything Harry’s wants to give him, even if it means in a sober state, Harry wouldn’t choose him.

As soon as Harry makes a move to remove Louis’ shirt, he sobers up a bit. He quickly pulls away, panting, “Harry, what are we doing?”

“I want you, Lou,” Harry breathes out against his lips as he moves in to kiss him again. Louis complies immediately but just as quickly moves away again. Their lips make an obcene smacking sound.

“Wait, are you sure about this? Maybe we should wait until you’re sober and see if you still want to do this,” he says, really not wanting to stop but also not wanting Harry to feel like he’s taking advantage of him in his inebriated state.

Harry stops himself from reaching out for Louis, giving him a hurt look. He shakes his head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious?”

“What?”

“I’m practically throwing myself at you right now, and you’re questioning it? Wondering if my motives are alcohol-induced?”

Louis isn’t really sure how to respond to that. His mouth is open, wanting to say something in return, but he isn’t sure where to begin. “I’m...”

“Don’t...” Harry interrupts, anger and hurt seeping into his voice, lashing at Louis like raindrops on a window pane. “Just don’t, Lou, okay? Forget it...let’s just go to bed.” He says, turning around without looking at Louis, as he heads upstairs to his room.

Louis looks down at his feet, somehow feeling guilty about this whole situation. He didn’t mean to make Harry feel bad, but he just wanted to make sure they were both in the right mindset. Harry has just broken up with Chloe, he refuses to be the sad rebound, chosen as a hook-up on a drunken spur of the moment. He isn’t going to regret this, he tries to convince himself, doesn’t want Harry to, either He’s making the right decision.

He is.

He follows Harry upstairs, taking notice of Harry’s door being shut. Reluctantly, he goes into his own room, letting himself fall on the bed. Louis falls asleep trying to convince himself he made the right call.

*

  
A pounding headache and the delicious smell of food is what Louis wakes up to the next morning. His head feels like it’s been stomped on by an elephant, but his stomach is growling and his mouth is watering, feeling the need to eat whatever is cooking downstairs. He stumbles out of his bed, getting his blankets tangled between his legs as if Harry’s clumsiness rubbed off on him overnight.

Harry shouldn’t be his first thought in the morning, but Louis is a masochist. Guilt washes over him as he runs the events of last night through his mind. He knows that he did the right thing, he really does, but at the same time there’s that part of his brain that wishes he didn’t always do the right thing and could just do whatever the little devil on his left shoulder tells him to do.

Louis lazily throws on a t-shirt and shorts and nearly tumbles down the stairs--he’s still hungover. There’s the faint sound of music playing--Yellow by Coldplay, he thinks--and when he gets to the kitchen, he finds a chipper Harry swaying to the music while flipping what look like french toast in the frying pan. Louis raises his eyebrows in surprise, not expecting Harry to be in such a great mood after what happened last night, but he’s also not going to question it. At least not right now with the way he’s feeling.

“Good morning,” he says tentatively. His voice is a bit gruff from sleep, making Harry startle at the sound.

He turns to look at Louis over his shoulder, smiling with his dimple out in full display, “Good morning, Lou!”

And okay…

Louis returns a tight-lipped smile, “Smells so good,” he gestures to the food that’s already prepared on the table unable to resist tearing off a piece of sausage and popping it into his mouth, “Been up long?”

“A bit. Woke up bright and early, went for a run, had a shower, and decided to make us breakfast,” Harry explains, “Did you sleep well?”

Louis waves his hand, “Not too bad,” he lies, “head’s killing me though.”

Harry stops what he’s doing to fetch Louis some ibuprofen and a glass of water, placing it in front of him, “Here, drink up.”

“Thanks, Haz,” he says, even though he’s still confused as hell. Louis’ stomach twists uncomfortably at the thought of Harry deciding to pretend the kiss last night never happened. And for a moment he considers letting him do that, giving him an out. But he can’t because Harry’s not only his best friend, he’s also his bandmate, and they agreed they would be open and honest about everything with each other, so he’s not going to be the one to break that promise they made.

“Hey, Harry,” Louis begins, “About last night, I just wanted to apologize…”

“No, Louis, don’t apologize, please,” Harry interrupts. He shuts off the stove and turns to face him completely, his face is so earnest and open, “I’m the one that’s sorry for putting you in that position to begin with. It shouldn’t have happened. I don’t want to use the alcohol as an excuse, either. I think we were just having such a good time and things got away from me for a moment.”

Louis shakes his head, “Haz, don’t worry about it. You had a rough night, you’re allowed to let go every once in awhile, okay?”

Harry nods in understanding “Thank you Lou. You're such a great friend.” The words feel like a bucket of cold water bringing him back to the reality of it all. He and Harry are friends and that's all they'll ever be.

They both tuck into their breakfasts and Louis catches Harry staring at him a couple of times, but he doesn’t want to make anything of it. He just wants to move on from this and continue being Harry and Louis. Yesterday, before the incident, they really seemed to have reconnected and become themselves again and Louis would hate for anything to ruin that. He doesn’t want to fuck up their friendship before HaLo even makes their debut to the public.

They spend the rest of the day binge-watching tv shows on Netflix and nursing their hangovers, making the most of their time off before having to be back in the studio tomorrow. They haven’t seen their band in a couple of weeks, and Louis doesn’t really know what to expect when he sees Zayn again. A lot has happened, and he isn’t sure if his crush for Zayn is still there, but he guesses he’ll know when he sees him in the morning.

They end up falling asleep on their huge sectional in front of the tv, with the blankets wrapped around them like a cocoon, just the two of them in their own little world. Harry’s head is on Louis’ lap and as Louis drifts off he finds himself thinking about Harry’s lips and the way he tastes like vanilla and tea and everything he wants in life.

 

*

  
The boys are at the studio rehearsing for their first live performance on Chatty Man, and Louis hasn’t been able to stop shaking with nerves. They haven’t performed any of their own original music in front of a live audience, and just the thought of it makes him want to run for the hills. He’s so grateful for the confidence Julian and others have shown in him and his songwriting abilities, but there’s no bigger judge than the fans, and Louis would hate to let them down. He just really wants them all to love the songs they’ve come up with as much as they do, and waiting to see their reaction is nearly killing him.

When the band calls for a five minute break, Louis steps outside for a smoke, hoping to get some kind of relief. His body feels like a live wire, thrumming with energy that’s building up inside of him, making him feel uneasy. He takes a drag of his cigarette, calming his nerves a bit.

“You okay, mate?” Zayn asks, startling Louis, his own cigarette already lit and leaning against the wall next to Louis.

“Yeah, yeah, just a bit nervous. It’s our first live performance in a while and I just want it to be good,” Louis admits.

“There’s no doubt in my mind it will be,” Zayn tells him smiling warmly.

Louis can’t help but mirror the same smile, “Thank you.” Zayn waves him off.

“So I was thinking,” Zayn begins, “I really like you, Louis.”

Louis’ mouth drops open, making his cigarette nearly fall out of his mouth. He wasn’t expecting Zayn to be so forward. He clears his throat, “You do?”

“I do,” Zayn says easily, “But I don’t think you feel the same way.”

And…okay... Louis was just thinking about where he’d like to take things with Zayn, considering giving it a shot with him, and finally trying to move on from Harry, but apparently Zayn wasn’t letting him make up his own mind about it.

“I don’t?” Is all Louis can manage to say and he feels like such a twat.

“No, and that’s okay. You’re a great guy, Louis, but it would never work between us, seeing as you’re in love with your best friend,” Zayn says so nonchalantly, Louis almost misses it.

Louis scoffs, “What?”

Zayn chuckles, “It’s okay, there’s no need to deny it. I think anyone who isn’t blind can tell how much you love him.”

“But…”

“It’s okay Louis. I’m more than happy to be your friend, you're a great guy.” Zayn says, before adding on, “And, for what it’s worth, I’m really pulling for you two,” he tells him.

Louis feels himself going red, his face getting warm. He feels embarrassed that it’s that fucking obvious to other people, but not to Harry himself.

“Thanks, Z. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re really hot,” he says seriously, but immediately they both start laughing.

Once they settle down, they hug each other tight. Louis rubs Zayn’s back and thanks him again. Just as they’re about to pull away the door opens, Harry looking between them both. His face is serious. Probably more serious than Louis has ever seen it, and it’s clouded over with something that looks like anger, or regret. Louis isn’t sure how to feel about it.

“It’s time to get back,” Harry tells them, turning around, not waiting for them to respond as he slams the door behind him.

Zayn puts out his cigarette and shoots Louis a questioning look. Louis looks away and, without another word, they head back inside, following Harry back to rehearsal.

The rest of the day is a fucking nightmare. Harry is acting like such a diva, not cooperating with the rest of the group. He keeps making them start from the beginning after any little mistake. Even when no one has made a bloody mistake, he stops everything and makes them start over, saying he wasn’t happy with how that sounded. He only allows everyone a short two minute break to let people take a wee and drink some water, but then he’s up in everyone’s faces telling everyone what to do. He even has the audacity to tell the band members how they should be playing their fucking instruments--especially Zayn. Louis is on the verge of a mental breakdown, and might actually have one if Harry doesn’t get his head out of his arse, and give them all a fucking break. In his opinion, they sound good, amazing even, but to Harry, nothing is good enough. Harry’s attitude is doing nothing for Louis’ nerves and it’s starting to piss him off.

When Harry finally decides to call it a day it’s nearly ten at night, and none of them have had dinner. Harry leaves everyone without a word, while the rest of the boys take a minute to catch their breath.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Niall asks, guzzling his water down.

“I have no idea,” Liam replies.

“Something crawled up his arse and died,” Louis mutters.

Zayn laughs, “I think someone’s jealous, and taking it out on the rest of us.”

Louis’ eyebrows furrow in confusion, “What?”

“Remember Lou, he saw us hugging outside after our talk, and he stormed off. After that is when he was on our arses about everything. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, mate,” Zayn tells him.

Louis just shrugs because he really doesn’t know what to say to that. Why would Harry be jealous of Zayn? Louis has done more than assure Harry that he’s got nothing to worry about losing his best friend. And Harry made it perfectly clear just this morning that their kissing wasn’t going to amount to anything. Even still, Louis knows he’ll always choose Harry over anyone else, even Zayn. So, why is Harry acting like this?

“Hopefully he isn’t like this all week or I’ll die. I can’t survive a week without dinner, I’ll starve to death,” Niall tells them dramatically.

“Don’t worry Niall, I’ll talk to him. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, okay?” Louis assures him.

Back at the flat, Louis unlocks the door and he can feel the vibrations from the loud rock music that’s blasting from Harry’s room. Great. Harry isn’t going to make this easy for him. He toes off his shoes by the door, and hops into the shower, making sure to make it extra hot as his muscles are killing him. He honestly feels like he ran a marathon, even though all they did today was rehearse for their performance. In the shower he can still hear the loud music playing. It sounds like Linkin Park, which wow. The last time Harry listened to Linkin Park was after he found out Lucy had been cheating on him with the footie captain, which well, wasn’t pretty. He quickly finishes washing, and puts on a pair of joggers and his Black Sabbath shirt. He doesn’t even bother drying his hair, needing to talk to Harry as soon as possible.

Louis stands outside of Harry’s door for a moment as he takes a deep breath, before knocking on the door firmly. The first set of knocks do nothing, so he knocks a lot louder this time, so hard his knuckles ache. The music shuts off a second later, and Harry opens the door. His face is sweaty, and his curls are in disarray like he was working out. As Louis’ eyes travel down Harry’s body he realizes he’s shirtless, his body glistening, and Louis has to remember to focus because his mind immediately goes into wanting to lick him.

Harry’s panting, trying to catch his breath, “What?” He says.

Louis tries not to let the tone affect him, “You’ve got a minute to talk?”

Harry rolls his eyes, “Talk about what? I’ve got nothing to talk about,” he tells him, and he’s about to shut the door in Louis’ face, but Louis quickly pushes his body against it to prevent him from closing it.

“Harry, come on, talk to me,” Louis insists.

Harry doesn’t respond, and instead lets go of the door to walk over to his bed. Louis was still pushing the door, so when Harry stopped resisting he stumbled into the room, nearly falling on his face.

“Okay Harry what the fuck is wrong with you?!” Louis finally breaks. His patience is long gone, and he can’t keep giving into Harry’s whims when the younger boy’s gone crazy it seems.

Harry doesn’t say anything, his arms are crossed and he’s looking down at the floor, his face scrunched up in anger. Louis could tell he’s still breathing pretty heavily as he sees his chest rising and falling at a fast rate. And just as Louis is about to ask him again, Harry just bursts into tears, making him freeze on the spot. Harry’s sobs make Louis act quickly, as if someone lit his arse on fire, and in an instant he’s standing in front of his best friend.

“Hazza, what’s wrong?” Louis asks, and it breaks his heart to see Harry cry, no matter what the reason is. Harry should never have to shed a tear, and Louis would move mountains if he could, just to prevent him from ever having to feel sad.

Harry shakes his head, sniffling and wiping the tears from his eyes, “ I just...God, Louis, I don’t think I can survive you dating Zayn if I’m honest. I’ve only seen you two hug today and I nearly lost my mind. It will drive me crazy seeing you guys together, I can’t. I’m sorry Louis, I just can’t,” he rambles, still avoiding Louis’ gaze.

Louis is caught completely off guard at that because why would Harry think he and Zayn are dating? And also, why would he care? Louis’ heart flutters at the possibility of what this could mean.

Louis reaches for Harry’s face, he really needs Harry to look at him when he tells him the truth. “Haz, look at me,” he tells him. The younger boy refuses at first, but eventually gives in. His eyes are still dripping with tears, his cheeks have streaks on them, and he’s still the most beautiful boy Louis has ever seen. “Zayn and I aren’t dating. In fact, today, when you saw us hugging, we had finished agreeing that we’d remain just friends.”

Harry’s eyes go wide, “Really?” And there’s so much hope in them, it makes Louis’ heart burst with so much love.

“Really.”

Harry instantly relaxes, “Thank god,” he says looking up at the ceiling in relief.

Louis’ face scrunches up in confusion as Harry’s gaze comes back to him. His eyes look hesitant at first, but then he looks determined, eyes falling onto Louis’ lips. Before Louis can question him, he’s being pushed down to the floor with Harry landing on top of him. Harry’s lips land on his with such swift ease and Louis instantly welcomes them, and Harry, with open arms. The kiss is sweet and desperate and full of so much pent up energy, as if all the words Harry’s left unsaid are being transferred through his mouth. Louis opens his mouth in a blatant invitation and Harry gladly takes it, licking inside, warm and wet, making Louis whine wanting more, more, more. Louis’ hands grab onto Harry’s hips because he feels the need to hold onto something to keep himself from floating away, not trusting that Harry’s weight on him is enough to keep him grounded.

Louis’ hands make their way down Harry’s waist to his bum and he can’t help but self indulge--it’s been a long time coming--and grabs fistfuls of the meaty flesh that’s covered by Harry’s trackies and suddenly Louis wishes clothing did not exist. Harry moans into Louis’ mouth, spurring Louis on, making him grope at Harry even harder, scratching him gently, making the younger boy shiver above him.

“Fuck, Lou,” Harry whines, but he doesn’t stop. He keeps kissing, and licking and biting Louis’ neck, working his way down, and Louis lets him by moving his head to give him more room.

“Off,” Harry demands, tugging on the hem of his t-shirt, and Louis easily obliges, because he’s such a goner, he’d do anything for Harry. And Harry just keeps going, he latches onto Louis’ nipple, and Louis fucking squeaks, loving every minute of it.

Before Harry can go any further, Louis gains his bearings by grabbing a fisful of Harry’s hair, bringing him back up to kiss him.

“Let’s take it slow, okay?” Louis breathes against Harry’s soft, plump, pink lips. And Harry fucking pouts, he pouts, which makes Louis feel the need to shut his eyes for a second to concentrate. He opens his eyes again, “None of that, okay, love? I promise we’ll do more, but not tonight,” Louis assures him. Harry’s pout fades away, and he dives back in.

Being in Harry’s bed, exploring each other’s mouths for hours until their lips are raw, makes Louis feel like his teenage dreams have come to life. They’re both topless, leaning into each other, skin on skin, and their erections rubbing against each other. But it doesn’t go any further than that.

In the end, they fall asleep in each other’s arms, and when Louis wakes up he feels the need to touch Harry to make sure he’s really there with him. Harry’s soft, wet lips against his heated skin make his eyes flutter awake a couple of times during the night, and Louis can’t think of a time when he was this blissfully happy.

  
*

It’s the day HaLo’s promotional tour begins for their new album, Hey Angel, which is set to be released in just a couple of weeks. They kick it off with their Chatty Man appearance, where they’re set to perform “End of the Day” live for the first time, followed by a candid interview. This is their first interview since they’ve been donned a “couple” to the public, and Louis is nervous as hell.

He’d been nervous from the beginning, but now with what’s happened between him and Harry, well, his body is just buzzing in anxious anticipation. And it has nothing to do with the questions he already knows they’ll be asked. Louis has no idea where he and Harry stand. Yes, Harry made it very clear that he found Louis fit and wanted to kiss him and more, but he wasn’t very clear on where they stood in their relationship. His mind has been questioning Harry’s intentions, whether his best friend wanted to be friends with benefits, or if he wanted more. He obviously doesn’t want Louis to be with anyone else, but does that mean Harry wants him for himself? All these questions--that he’s been too scared to bring up to Harry--have been roaming in his head, and he doesn’t really know what to expect. It doesn’t help that they’ve spent every night since that first night snogging in each other’s beds, where not much talking really happens.

Their performance goes beyond their expectations, and the interview goes even better. There’s a bit of banter between the boys and Alan Carr, which was really to be expected with the nature of the show itself. Louis feels the nerves melting off him as the time goes by, and he couldn’t be more at ease. He and Harry play off their “relationship” well, doing what they normally do with each other all the time, just adding a bit more PDA than they normally would. The audience eats it up, and Alan fawns over how cute they are. After the show, Harry and Louis step outside to greet the fans, taking pictures and signing autographs happily. Before they know it, they’re escorted to their car for their next interview.

Louis wouldn’t be able to tell you how many interviews they’ve done in the past week because it’s been a whirlwind of radio and tv interviews with every network imaginable. HaLo has been working their arses off in promoting the album. The single and music video for End of the Day has done so well, fans are more than excited to hear the rest of the album, if the twitter mentions are anything to go by. Some of them have even gathered together and created something called “Project Hey Angel”, where the fans are promoting the shit out of the album. They’ve printed out posters that have been posted in very public places, making Louis think they’re doing a much better job than their own team. Louis couldn’t feel more thankful for their followers.

One night, after a very gruelling schedule, Harry and Louis are in their flat, cuddling in bed. Harry has his head resting against Louis’ chest, and Louis is running his fingers through Harry’s soft, feathery curls. They’re silent, just basking in each other’s warmth, and Louis can feel his eyes drooping. He wants nothing more than to fall asleep right now, but at the same time he doesn’t want to let go of this moment, right now. It’s the first time he’s had alone with Harry all day, and Louis will be damned if he lets sleep overtake him before he can get a good cuddle with his boy.

“Hey, Lou?” Harry startles Louis from his thoughts, his voice is gruff, no doubt Harry’s just as tired as he is.

“Yes?”

Harry looks up at Louis, some of his curls fall in front of his face, so Louis helps tug them behind his ears. “When are we gonna have sex?” He asks, leaning into Louis’ touch like a kitten.

Louis’ hand freezes. “Wh-what?”

Harry looks down and begins to nervously pull at a stray thread on Louis’ jumper, “I was just wondering when we were going to have sex. We’ve been doing nothing more than snogging for almost a month now, and...well, I just think that I’m ready to move into things more below the belt...if you want to, that is,” he rushes out.

Louis makes Harry face him, and he smiles, “Of course I want to. I just wanted to wait until we were able to think with our minds and not our dicks,” they both chuckle, “Until you were ready.”

Harry brushes his cheek against Louis’ hand, “I’m ready. So ready,” he says looking at him with hungry emerald eyes. Harry leans over to kiss him, sweet and needy, not wasting any time before he’s biting Louis’ lip and working his way to his jaw and licking his ear. “You have no idea how much I’ve been wanting to suck your cock,” he whispers filthily against Louis’ ear and Louis’ can feel his dick already filling up in interest.

“Yeah?” Louis breathes. He can’t believe this is his life, where the boy he’s loved for so long wants to kiss him, and suck him. His cock twitches in his pants.

“So much,” Harry reassures, kissing him again, “Now take off your clothes,” he demands, reaching for Louis’ skinny jeans. They’d both not even bothered to change when they got home, still in the clothes they’d been in all day.

Louis helps Harry by taking off his shirt and wiggling out of his jeans. He’s tenting in his pants, and he doesn’t even care at this point. Louis just wants, needs, Harry’s mouth on him this instant.

As if Harry read Louis’ mind, his fingers tug on the elastic of his pants, swiftly pulling them off of him.

“Fuck,” he groans in amazement, “Your cock.”

Louis bites his lip, being under Harry’s scrutiny is making him feel suddenly shy. He can feel the blush creeping onto his face. For someone who has never been with a guy before, Harry carries an air of confidence with every action, like he’s on a mission, and he won’t rest until it’s accomplished.

Harry kisses down Louis’ chest, stopping at his nipples to nibble and lick at them, making Louis lose it completely.

“Oh God,” he moans, fisting on the duvet beneath him. The feeling of Harry’s lips against his skin feels like light feathery touches, making his body twitch in pleasure. When Harry finally makes it down to his crotch, he notices a slight hesitation on his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine, it’s just…I’ve never done this before, but I’ve got an idea of how. Can you...just tell me to stop if I’m doing it wrong?” Harry stammers.

Louis leans up on his elbows, “Harry, look at me,” and when he’s got Harry’s attention he says, “There’s hardly anything you could do that would make me want you to stop, okay?”

Relief courses through Harry’s face, and his shoulders relax, “Okay.”

Harry starts by wrapping his hand around Louis’ dick, rubbing it to full hardness before swooping down. He licks the head tentatively, like licking a lollipop testing out its taste, before wrapping his lips around it, sucking and licking. Louis shuts his eyes so tight, concentrating on not coming right there on the spot, not wanting to embarrass himself so early like some hormonal teenager. After he gains his bearings, he opens his eyes again and Harry’s cheeks are hollowed out, his mouth feels so warm and tight and good. Louis feels like it’s almost too much, but not enough at the same time.

“Harry,” Louis pleads, not really sure what it is he’s asking for, but again it’s like Harry can read his thoughts and he takes Louis deeper.

Harry is making the most obscene sounds, as he sucks Louis like he’s starved for it. He doesn’t hesitate to deepthroat him, although he does choke a little at first, but Harry takes it in stride, not letting it deter him from his mission, continuing to lick and suck, using his hand to tug on Louis’ balls.

Louis is seeing stars. At this point he’s become an incoherent mess, making noises he’s surprised are coming out of him. His hand makes it to Harry’s sweaty curls, and he pulls on them, making Harry moan, which in turn makes Louis’ entire body shiver.

At one point Louis is practically fucking Harry’s mouth, and he barely manages to warn Harry before he’s spilling into the younger boy’s mouth. It doesn’t stop Harry though, as he continues sucking Louis through his orgasm, lapping up every last bit of come and savoring it like his favorite vanilla flavored icing. When he’s done, Harry litters kisses up Louis’ sweat soaked skin, until he finally gets to his lips, licking into his mouth and letting Louis have a taste of himself.

“Fuck,” Louis groans, “You did so good, baby.”

Harry preens at the comment, then lays his head on Louis’ chest, “That was incredible,” he tells him, his voice sounds so raspy from deep throating him that Louis feels he can get hard again.

Louis makes a move to get up, “Now I gotta do you,” he says, but before he can get anywhere Harry stops him, with an embarrassed look on his face.

“Actually,” he says with reddened cheeks, “There’s no need. Um, I kind of already…” He gestures towards his crotch, and when Louis looks at him, he sees he’s not hard.

Louis mouth drops, “Did you…?”

Harry laughs and shrugs, “What can I say, you’re so fucking hot, and I couldn’t help it.”

Louis can’t believe how amazing Harry is, and feels his heart growing even more for him.

“Come here,” Louis orders, with arms wide open. Harry easily complies, snuggling into him. “You’re amazing, you know that?” Louis feels the need to tell him.

Louis can feel Harry’s smile against his chest, “You’re amazing too.” And like that, they both finally welcome the sleep that’s been calling for them since they got home.

  
*

  
The label throws an album release party for HaLo and invite every type of media imaginable, as well as friends, families, and fans who managed to win tickets. There’s an open bar with all types of drinks flowing, and there’s a stage set up for the boys to perform their songs. They’ve already performed a few times, the crowd going loud after each song. Harry and Louis mingle with the media, and everyone else between each set.

Louis is loving every minute of it, and his favorite part so far has been interacting with their fans. He’s not sure when he’d be able to meet with them in such an intimate manner again, so he’s making the most of it. At one point, he was stuck in the middle of a group of girls trying to show them his best dance moves when Harry swoops in, with a drink in hand. Harry greets everyone, and hands Louis the drink. He eagerly takes a sip, suddenly realizing how thirsty he is from all the exertion from the dancing, and feels grateful for his best friend’s perfect timing.

“Do you guys mind if I steal him for a moment?” Harry asks politely, grabbing Louis’ wrist. When he gets their okay, he doesn’t hesitate to pull Louis through the crowds.

“Where are we going?” Louis asks, finishing his drink. He’s feeling tipsy, his head feels a bit floaty, but he feels great, and he doesn’t know where the hell Harry is taking him. “Harry?”

Harry turns to look at him and his eyes are dark, and fuck, Louis doesn’t need a response from him anymore because he knows where this is going. Harry finds an empty restroom and locks the door behind him, pinning Louis against it going straight for his neck. He’s biting and sucking, no doubt going to leave a mark--because Harry loves to leave his mark on Louis, he’s come to learn--and Louis just closes his eyes giving Harry plenty of room to do so.

“Fuck,” Louis moans, because he will never admit that he absolutely loves getting marked by Harry.

Harry pulls away to look into Louis’ eyes, “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” He growls before diving back into his neck and working his way up to his jaw. All Louis could really do is whine, because he’s under Harry’s spell and there’s nothing much anyone can do to make him move out of this spot right here. Harry takes one hand to pull Louis into another kiss while he uses his other hand to undo the button and zipper to his trousers. Harry tastes like strawberries, probably from having strawberry daiquiris, he guesses. Harry’s plump lips are stained red and Louis licks into his mouth, savoring the sweet, wet taste of Harry that intoxicates him to his very core.

Before Louis knows it, Harry’s dropped to his knees, taking him into his mouth eagerly and sucking on him relentlessly. Louis is coming into Harry’s mouth in record time, needing to grip onto Harry’s head to keep himself from from falling, making him lose feeling in his legs for a moment. It only takes a few tugs in return to make Harry spill into Louis’ hand, and they’re both panting into each other’s mouths, both sticky and sweaty, but completely sated.

After they recover, they both head back to the party, finishing the rest of their set, and Louis thinks it’s the best one they’ve done all night. They get praises from everyone, including their team. After the party when they get home, Louis returns the favor, by blowing Harry into oblivion.

  
*

  
A week later, while Harry is in the middle of deep throating Louis, they get a phone call from their label letting them know that Hey Angel is #1 not only in the UK, but also in thirteen other countries. They didn’t make it to the top in the US, but they still made it to the top 10, which they still think is an amazing achievement.

“Oh my God!” Harry mumbles, excitedly.

“For God’s sake Harold, you can take my dick out of my mouth for two seconds,” Louis teases, but Harry ignores him, making Louis come harder than he ever has before.

At their team meeting the next day, they’re told they’re not only going to be going on tour, but they’re also going to be extending dates to the US. To top everything off, they were also informed that they’d be opening for one of the most popular bands in the world, Coldplay. Louis had to check on Harry, because he could swear that he nearly fainted at the news. Everything has been coming at them like bomb after bomb of great news that has been beyond overwhelming to the both of them. Tour rehearsals are set to begin after they come back from their Christmas break next month, and they’ve just got to get through a few more weeks of promo before they get to go home for a little, well deserved time off.

After going over their tour schedule and finalizing more promotion in the US, Harry and Louis are driven back to their flat. Every time they have an intense meeting with loads of information, Louis comes out of it with a headache. He’d just love to run a bath right now, relax, and let all the information he just got soak in. So he does just that.

When he goes into his bedroom he discards all of his clothing, and he already feels so much better. He doesn’t know what it is about coming home at the end of a long day and taking off your clothes. It feels liberating, like the weight of the day is being peeled away. He turns on the bathroom light and twists the taps to the bath, making sure the plug is properly placed so that the bath starts to fill up with hot water. Now, Louis loves taking baths, he always has, so he likes to make sure to be stocked up on his favorite bath bombs and soothing lotions to moisturize afterwards. He decides to go for the lavender and goat’s milk bath bomb he recently purchased that he’s been wanting to try. The mixture of the ingredients is supposed to create a very relaxing experience. As he lets the bath bomb dissolve he gets his phone to turn on some music. He’s got a playlist specifically for this, that he updates occasionally. The notes to Lana Del Rey’s “Love” begin to resonate through the room. Once Louis checks the temperature of the water, he finally steps into the tub, leaning his head back against the edge, letting his body get submerged into the hot water. The scent is magnificent; Louis’ nostrils instantly fill with flowery smells that make him feel so good and at ease.

Louis spends time thinking about everything that’s happened the past few weeks. He feels like his life has been a whirlwind of events all interspersed with each other, and he hasn’t had a chance to catch up and take a breather. There’s still a lot of confusion in his mind, especially about the whole situation with Harry. He hasn’t really done anything to clarify with his best friend about where they stand. Louis still feels too scared that this sort of magical bubble they’re in is going to burst as soon as he brings it up, and that’s the last thing he wants to do. Because things with Harry have been incredible. Never did Louis think things with Harry would ever get this far, and he doesn’t know if he should feel happy or nervous. He shakes those thoughts away though, because he’s supposed to be using this bath time to relax, not to stress anymore about things.

He finally rinses off, pulling the plug and letting the water drain out. He grabs his towel to dry off, and he feels so light and refreshed. He wraps the towel around his waist, and opens the bathroom door to his room and freezes. Sitting on Louis’ bed is Harry. He’s naked, laying on his side with his head propped on his hand on the bed like some sort of sexy offering just for Louis. Louis’ cock twitches in interest.

“Haz, what are you doing?” Louis asks, voice tight. He sometimes hates the effect Harry has on him because he can’t even try to be subtle. And Harry seems to know this too, because he smirks smugly as if he could read Louis’ thoughts.

Harry runs his fingers along the duvet underneath him. “Waiting for you.” His voice sounds deeper than normal, and he’s looking at Louis with dark eyes, ready to pounce.

Louis chuckles nervously. “Well, I’m here,” he says walking towards him and Harry moves to sit on the edge of the bed, spreading his legs so that Louis stands between them. He puts his hands on Louis’ hips and kisses him in the center of his chest.

“Mmm, you smell so good, Lou.” He circles his tongue around Louis’ nipple, making Louis whine. Harry takes that as an invitation, so he loosens the towel around Louis’ waist, letting it drop to the floor. Louis’ body shivers at the movement, suddenly feeling exposed in front of Harry like this, but he loves it. He loves the way Harry is looking at him and his body, like he can’t get enough of it. Harry stops his movements and looks up at Louis with hooded eyes.

“Hey, Lou...can I try something?” He’s biting his bottom lip and looks nervous, as if Louis would ever deny him anything.

“Anything,” is all Louis says, and it sounds breathy almost like a whisper because that is what Harry does to him. Takes his damn breath away.

Harry smiles. He stands up, “Can you lay on your stomach, please?”

Louis complies easily, he folds his arms beneath him to cradle his head in them and he spreads his legs to let Harry nestle between them as he does so. Harry grabs both of his arse cheeks, one in each hand. The room is quiet except for Harry’s heavy breathing. Louis can feel his breath against his exposed hole, and it makes his body tingle.

“God, look at you,” Harry marvels, “So pretty, and perfect. Just for me.”

Before Louis can respond to any of that, Harry’s tongue is on his eager hole, licking in one quick swipe, getting a taste. Louis whimpers.

“Fuck, you taste so good, Lou,” Harry says and this time he goes back in deeper. Louis can feel the warm and wet tongue against his arse as Harry wiggles it into him. It feels so good, nothing like he’s ever experienced before in his life. Harry spreads his cheeks further apart to have more room as he buries his face into Louis’ arse.

“Oh, shit!” Louis yelps, because this feeling is so intense, he’s having trouble staying still. Louis is tempted to push back against Harry’s face, but he doesn’t. Instead he buries his face into his arms.

Harry pulls away for a moment to catch his breath, “Don’t cover your face, Lou, wanna hear you, please.” He sounds so desperate, so needy, and Louis does as he’s told as Harry goes back in. Harry’s tongue is fucking in and out of him, and he adds a finger which is almost too much, but it feels amazing. Harry stops again, but only to grab the lube on the night stand. He drizzles some onto his fingers and into Louis’ arse, resuming again with two fingers this time, his tongue still accompanying them in a mixture of pleasure and a little bit of pain, but it feels so good. Eventually Harry is three fingers in, and he’s fucking Louis earnestly, biting and nibbling on his bum cheek as he does. At this point Louis can’t help it and he’s pushing his arse back to meet his fingers hitting his prostate in a delicious rhythm Louis never wants him to stop.

“Lou?”

Louis almost doesn’t hear Harry over his own heavy breathing. He’s sweaty, and his fringe is in front of his eyes, he probably looks a mess but he doesn’t even care, he just wants Harry to make him come.

Louis looks over his shoulder to look at Harry and he’s in no better state, his eyes are wild with want, and his curls are sweaty and matted against his forehead. “Why did you stop?” Louis doesn’t mean to sound as whiny as he does, but he really wanted to get that orgasm.

Harry wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. “Can I...fuck, Louis, I really want to fuck you.” He blurts it out in a jumbled mess and Louis almost misses it. And fuck. Louis would love nothing more than to have Harry fill him up right now. He knows this is a big deal, but Louis doesn’t have much to think about because this is Harry. This the person he has been in love with for a big part of his life. There’s no one he’d rather have fuck him for the first time than Harry.

Louis breathes out, “Yes, please fuck me, Haz.” And that’s really all Harry needs to hear, before he’s grabbing a condom and lubing himself up.

“Can you turn around? I wanna see you,” Harry tells him and Louis does, with wobbly legs that feel like jelly he grabs one of the pillows and places it beneath his bum and spreads his legs, propping his feet on the mattress. Harry lines himself up against Louis’ hole and stops to look at him in the eyes. Harry’s eyes almost look black with how wide his pupils are dilated, and his eyes seem to ask him something and Louis just nods. He’s ready.

Harry pushes in slowly, his eyes never leave Louis as he’s pushing inside of him. Louis tries his best to relax, because Harry is big and he is a lot to take. Louis has fucked himself with dildos before, but none as big as Harry’s dick so this is an adjustment for him. He closes his eyes for a moment needing to calm down as his heart is rabbiting against his chest, and Harry stops.

“Are you okay?” Louis opens his eyes and Harry looks at him with concern.

Louis nods, “Yes, I’m perfect, sorry, just needed a moment. Keep going, please.”

So Harry does.

When Harry finally bottoms out they stay still for a few seconds until Louis urges him to move. Harry grinds his hips against Louis’ in small movements at first, as if Louis is made out of glass or something.

“Harry, please, you’re not gonna break me,” Louis assures him.

Harry’s face falls a little, “I just don’t want to hurt you…”

Louis takes his hand and caresses Harry’s cheek, “I promise you aren’t going to, okay?” Harry leans into the touch and kisses him on top of his thumb and nods.

He takes Louis’ legs and wraps them around his waist and puts his hands on each side of Louis’ head and starts moving his hips harder, and faster. Louis feels like the breath is getting knocked out of him with each thrust, but in a good way.

“Fuck yes!”

That only seems to encourage Harry more, and eventually he’s nearly folding Louis in half, making the angle even more relentless against Louis’ prostate.

“You feel so good, Lou. So fucking tight,” Harry grunts out with every movement of his hips. Their skin is slapping against each other making the sound echo throughout the room, and Louis is loving every second of it.

“Oh God, I’m gonna come,” Louis moans and Harry is right there, hand around Louis’ cock jerking him off to the rhythm of his thrusts and Louis’ sight whites out for a moment as he’s coming all over his chest, “Oh fuck!”

A few more thrusts, and Harry is shooting inside the condom, his movements slow down as they both catch their breaths and come down from their orgasms. Harry gently pulls out of Louis, disposing of the condom quickly and bringing them a wet flannel to wipe them off. They lay in bed together, Harry wrapping his arms around Louis as they wait for their hearts to calm down.

“That was amazing,” Harry says kissing him on top of his head, “You’re amazing, Lou.” He sounds awestruck as he runs his fingers through Louis’ hair.

“I think you killed me, but I honestly don’t even care. Fuck, that was…” Louis turns around in Harry’s arms to face him. He kisses him on the lips, licking into him, trying his best to explain just how earth-shattering and life-changing that was for him. He hopes Harry understands. They fall asleep like that, wrapped in each other’s arms, surrounded by the scent of sex and sweat, and Louis has never been happier.

  
*

  
Letting Harry fuck him for the first time, was like opening Pandora’s box, causing a series of events that Louis just can’t be blamed for. Harry is insatiable, always trying to find an opportunity to get Louis alone to fuck. If they couldn’t get their hands off each other before, bringing sex into the equation just made things even worse. Not that Louis is complaining. He’s loving all of the attention Harry’s giving him, and the sex has only gotten better each time. Louis is starting to think Harry might even have a bit of an exhibitionist kink, as he seems to want to fuck in places where they’ll easily get caught. Louis can’t really be blamed if he gives in to Harry’s ministrations either, he’s only a man after all.

Before they know it, promo season is coming to an end and Christmas break--and Louis’ birthday--is just around the corner. Louis is happy to be going home for a couple of weeks. He and his family are actually going on holiday for a week, which he’s looking forward to, he really is. But at the same time, he’s going to be away from Harry for a whole week, and they haven’t been apart more than a day since before they joined the X Factor. Needless to say, Louis is struggling very hard at trying not to pout as he packs for his trip.

Packing is a bit of an understatement really, Louis is just throwing his clothes into his suitcase as he decides what he wants to take with him.

“You call that packing?” Harry is standing in his doorway with a goofy smile on his face, shaking in head in amusement.

Louis shrugs, “It’s all gonna come out anyway, why even bother folding it,” he says as he continues to look through his wardrobe. Harry walks all the way in and without a word just starts folding the clothes that Louis’ already thrown in the suitcase.

“You don’t really need this many clothes, you know? You’re only going to be in Paris for five days.” Harry tells him.

Louis huffs, “Harold, it’s Paris! I’m gonna need at least three outfits to choose for each day.”

Harry rolls his eyes fondly and sighs, “I’m gonna miss you, Lou.”

The words come so easily out of Harry’s mouth that it catches Louis off guard. He stops what he’s doing and looks at Harry, who hasn’t stopped folding. “Me too, Haz.” And without another word continues what he was doing.

The night before they’re set to leave and part ways to their own families, Louis gets woken up in the middle of the night.

“Lou,” Harry whispers, shaking Louis awake.

Louis’ eyes flutter open, and he turns to look at Harry. He looks uneasy, as if he’s nervous about something. “What is it, Haz?” His voice is gruffy with sleep.

Harry hesitates at first, looking down at his hands instead of Louis and then he seems to be talking himself into saying what he wants to say. “Will you...and you can say no if you want, I just. Will you be my first?”

Harry sounds so small and vulnerable, and Louis’ heart is beating hard against his chest. Of course Harry isn’t a virgin, but since they’ve started having sex, it’s always been Harry who’s been doing the fucking. Louis had been wanting to give him time, for when he was ready, and it seems that now is that time.

Louis takes a hold of Harry’s hand, “Are you sure?”

Without hesitation Harry nods, “Please.”

So Louis spends the rest of that night taking care of Harry. He kisses every inch of his body, making Harry shiver with every light touch. He opens him up with so much love and care because Harry deserves nothing less. When Harry assures Louis that he’s ready, Louis fucks him slow at first, and he takes his time building up a rhythm that brings the most beautiful noises out of Harry. Every whimper only urges Louis on and he comes so close to uttering the words ‘I love you’ that he needs to bite his lips shut so that he doesn’t let them slip.

Harry looks at Louis like he hung the moon and the stars, and it gets so intense that Louis finds himself having to look away, because he can almost believe that Harry might love him back. When they each find their release, Louis holds Harry in his arms, kissing him and caressing him through the aftershocks. He whispers praises into his ear, telling him how well he did, and how good he felt around his cock. They fall asleep staring into each other’s eyes, Harry thanking him and telling him how amazing it was. If a tear manages to make its way out of Louis’ eye, nobody has to know.

  
*

  
The holiday to Paris turns out to be great, which Louis had no doubt it would be. Not only did he get to spend a lot of time with his family and catch up with them, but he also got to explore the beautiful city. They did some touristy things like visit the Eiffel Tower, but they also got to visit some of Louis’ stepdad’s family. It’s a lot of fun overall, but Louis couldn’t be happier to be home. Not only did he miss Harry terribly, but his birthday celebration is tomorrow and he can’t wait to go out with his friends he hasn’t seen in months.

The travel back to Doncaster is uneventful, but Louis is relieved to finally be back. He quickly changes into a fresh outfit and digs out Harry’s Christmas gift. Louis is aware that it's not Christmas yet, but he wants to give it to him anyway, too impatient to wait until Christmas morning. He didn’t specifically tell Harry when he would be back, wanting to surprise him when he got home. He puts his coat on, lets his mum know he’ll be back later and makes his way over to Harry’s house.

It isn’t too far, barely a ten minute walk. By the time Louis gets near Harry’s front door, his cheeks are pink from the cold and his lips are a bit chapped, but he doesn’t care, he just wants to see his boy. The curtains on the window are parted open and Louis can see Harry’s silhouette with someone else. The closer he gets, the clearer it becomes: it’s Chloe. Louis stops where he is, just as he was about to climb the few steps to Harry’s house and just watches them. Harry is smiling at her, his left dimple is out. Chloe says something to him that makes him laugh, and Louis rolls his eyes because Harry will laugh at pretty much anything. Louis is almost sure whatever Chloe said wasn’t even funny. Plus, Louis wants to be the only one to make Harry laugh like that, anyway. Louis hates that it is bothering him as much as it is, but just because Chloe is here, doesn’t mean anything, right? Louis would think Harry would have mentioned her in the texts they’d exchanged while he was on holiday. But he didn’t.

Just as Louis talks himself out of throwing a jealousy fit, he sees it. Chloe leans up and wraps her arms around Harry’s neck and pulls him into a kiss. On the lips. At that point, Louis doesn’t want to see anything else. He turns around and runs, as fast as he can to his house.

Louis bursts into his front door without a word, and thankfully no one sees him, or questions him, which he’s grateful for because he doesn’t think he would be able to talk without having a total breakdown. He runs up to his room and shuts the door behind him. He leans against it, and catches his breath as hot tears trail down his cheeks. His chest and throat hurt and he can feel his heartbeat racing through his ears. Louis thinks he’s going to be sick.

Clearly Louis had fooled himself into believing that Harry might start having some feelings for him, but he was so, so wrong. Harry is with Chloe. And Louis is just his friend.

Louis closes his eyes, and tries to shake the images out of his mind, with no luck. He has to get out of here. Harry knows Louis was returning today and if he doesn’t hear from him, he’ll come to his house looking for him, and Louis can’t face him.

Not now, maybe not ever.

Louis acts quickly and pulls out a duffel bag from his closet, throwing in a few outfits for the next couple of days. He shoots Stan a text asking if he can stay the night, using his birthday celebration as an excuse, saying he’ll be too wasted to go back home. Stan easily agrees.

After Louis finishes packing up, he tells his mum he’ll be with Stan for a couple of days and begs her not to tell Harry where he is. Jay reluctantly agrees, but makes Louis promise to tell him what is going on when he gets back.

When Louis arrives to Stan’s house, they spend the rest of the evening catching up. Louis tries his best not to show that he’s upset about Harry, he doesn’t want to talk or even think about him if he can help it. They go out to dinner with Hannah, Oli and Calvin at the pub nearby. They solidify their plans for Louis’ birthday and ultimately decide to rent a hotel room for the night after they go out to the club to celebrate.

The next morning, Louis is woken up by a giddy Stan who jumps on him and tickles him awake.

“Oh my God, stop! Do you have a deathwish?” Louis warns him, but ends up a giggling mess. He checks his phone and his heart drops when he notices he’s got a few texts from Harry.

  
_Are you back from Paris yet?_

_I miss you, hurry up! Call me as soon as you’re home._

_Lou where are you? I stopped by your house and your mum said you were out with friends. Call me when you get this please?_

_Lou, I don’t know why you haven’t called but I want to wish you a Happy Birthday. Are we still gonna celebrate?_  


Louis’ heart breaks all over again just thinking about yesterday’s events. He deletes Harry’s messages and after talking to his mum, decides to turn off his phone for the day. He’s not going to let Harry ruin his day.

Louis makes Stan take him to his favorite restaurant with the best fry up because even though his real birthday isn’t until tomorrow, today they’re celebrating it and his friends aren’t allowed to deny him anything. He tries not to think about how this place used to be his and Harry’s spot back before X Factor and everything else happened.

They check into the hotel later that afternoon, and in the evening they finally get ready for their night out on the town. Louis decides to put on his tightest jeans that make his arse look sinful, he wears a nearly see through black t-shirt and his black vans. He styles his hair into a quiff, and puts on his favorite aftershave. When he comes out of the bathroom, Hannah wolf whistles.

“Looking good, Lou,” she tells him, biting her lip playfully.

“No, no, none of that, my dear, I’ll be looking for some fresh meat tonight,” he winks at her and Hannah just giggles in response.

They make their way to the club, the music is loud and the lights are flashing around the room to the beat of the song that the DJ is playing. Stan excuses himself to get the first round, as the rest of them find a booth near the dancefloor. Stan returns with a tray full of shots and passes them around, Louis eagerly grabs one, wanting nothing more than to get blissfully drunk.

They raise their shots in the air. “To Louis! Happy Birthday, mate!” Calvin yells over the loud music, and they clink glasses before the take their shots of whiskey. The amber liquid feels hot and burns going down his throat, and Louis welcomes it.

They take a couple of more shots before Louis yells, “Dancefloor!”

And so they make their way to the dancefloor, all of them dancing together as a group. Louis looks around, seeing if he sees any potential hotties. Though, he thinks he might not be able to do much since he’s supposed to be ‘dating’ Harry. Louis wishes right now that he could take that day they signed their contracts back. None of this would have happened. Louis continues to sway to the beat of the music, he feels himself start to get lost in the rhythm of it as he closes his eyes and lets the sound take over when he feels a pair of strong hands grip the sides of his hips. Louis doesn’t turn to look who it is at first, he lets whoever it is touch him for for a couple of minutes, until he finally decides to turn around and face the person with the strong hold on him. When he does, Louis freezes.

“Harry, what are you doing here?” Louis can’t help but glare at him, because Harry has the audacity to look hurt at the question.

Harry drops his hands from Louis’ waist, “Why have you been ignoring me?”

Louis crosses his arms across his chest, and looks around Harry, “What, you didn’t bring Chloe with you?”

Harry’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Why would I bring Chloe?”

“I don’t know Harry, you were kissing her just yesterday, so I figured you’d want to bring your girlfriend,” he tells him.

Harry’s face falls. Without another word he takes Louis’ hand, and pulls him through the crowd.

“Where the fuck are you taking me? Let me go!” Louis yells over the music, but Harry doesn’t hear him. Or he ignores him. Probably the latter. His grip is tight on Louis’ hand and as much as he tries wiggling free, he can’t.

After weaving through the crowd and going through a dark corridor, Harry takes them through a door into a small closet. Harry closes the door behind him.

“What are we doing in here?” Louis demands. And as much as he’s still angry and hurt, he can’t help but smell the sweat and aftershave on Harry, making him want to get closer and maybe lick him, but he doesn’t.

Harry is breathing heavy, and his eyes look angry. “Chloe and I aren’t back together, Lou. Yes, she kissed me but I pulled her away and told her it wasn’t happening.”

Louis huffs, “Well, it’s not like we were even anything anyway, right? We were just fucking around.”

Harry grunts in frustration and he grabs Louis by the shoulders, “Listen to me, Louis, before you say anything else that you’ll regret.”

The serious tone of Harry’s voice makes Louis shut up and look at him intently.

Harry takes a deep breath, “I’m in love with you, okay? You make me crazy, I can’t get you out of my mind and it’s driving me insane. This past week that you’ve been gone, I felt so….like I was missing a limb. And not in the we’re best friends type of way either. I just…” Harry takes Louis’ face into his hands, making sure to have Louis’ eyes on his, “I want to take you out on a date, and I want to feed you and I want to take care of you and I just want everything with you. It’s like I’ve been walking around blindfolded all of my life and the moment we kissed, that blindfold came off and all I see is you, Louis.”

Louis is speechless. How the fuck is he supposed to follow up to that? He feels the brush of Harry's thumb against his bottom lip as if he's trying to coax some sort of response from him. Louis’ eyes trail up to meet Harry's and he looks so torn. Sort of like he's unsure if he made the right decision in telling Louis the truth. Louis’ arms snake their way up to circle Harry's neck and he pulls him in, their foreheads touching each other.

“I love you, Harry. I've loved you pretty much since the moment we met.” Harry's eyes go wide at that but he remains quiet, which Louis appreciates. “I've been waiting for years to hear those words come out of your mouth and I'm...God I feel like I'm dreaming...are you even real?”

Harry laughs at that. It's that breathy laugh Louis loves so much. “Oh I'm real,” Harry assures him and he dips his head to capture Louis’ lips into his own.

This time the kiss feels real, it feels like all of Louis’ dreams coming true, like floating on a cloud. The kiss deepens, and it becomes more heated, filled with purpose and promises. When they finally pull away, Harry and Louis look at each other and smile.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Harry asks. Louis nods and lets Harry lead him out of the club. He doesn't know where they're going, but he knows that being with Harry is an adventure he never wants to end.

  
*

  
“Oh Fuck, Louis!” Harry screams, and Louis continues on his merciless rhythm, thrusting in and out making sure to hit Harry’s sweet spot.

Louis’ hands trail up Harry’s back and he takes a fistful of Harry’s luscious hair that’s grown quite a few inches within the last year. He tugs on the curls just the way he knows Harry loves.

“Fucking shit!”

Louis holds on making sure to keep his other hand gripped on Harry’s hip tight, no doubt going to leave a mark, but Harry won’t mind.

“You feel so good, baby, so fucking tight.”

Harry whines in response as he pushes his hips against Louis’, eliciting the most obscene sounds out of them both.

“Yeah, that’s it, baby. You gonna come for me, Haz?” Louis lets go of Harry’s hair to take both hands and hold onto Harry’s waist to increase his pace.

“Ngh!”

Louis pulls Harry against his chest so that he’s now sitting on his cock, and he brings his arm around him to take a hold of Harry’s dick in his hand. He moves his lips against Harry’s ear.

“Come for me, Harry. You look so good on my cock.” And after a few more thrusts Harry’s body shudders and he’s coming all over his chest and Louis’ hand. “That’s my good boy.” Louis praises as he pumps his hips a few more times and he finds his own release filling Harry up to the brim.

Harry falls face down on the bed, a panting and sweaty mess and Louis pulls out, and leans over to kiss him on each shoulder blade, down his spine, until he gets to the dimples on his lower back and he takes his time. Kissing and licking and biting. Harry groans and his body twitches from being oversensitive, but he doesn’t complain.

Louis lowers himself down to Harry’s arse, and he swirls his finger along Harry’s glistening hole dripping with his come.

“I bet you taste so good with my come inside you.” Louis thinks out loud. Harry weakly looks ever his shoulder, his eyes wide and pretty, wet, pink lips parted in wonder. Without another word he spreads Harry’s arse cheeks and licks into him, lapping up the come that’s inside of him.

“Oh God!” Harry yells and Louis continues to clean him up. When he finishes he kisses each of his cheeks and spanks him gently before crawling up to lay next to Harry.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Harry breathes out, still catching his breath. Louis smiles in return.

Just as Louis is about to suggest they take a shower together, his phone rings.

“Hello?” Louis’ voice sounds rough and he clears his throat hoping it will help. Louis’ eyes widen and his jaw drops as he takes in the news he just received. “Oh my God! Okay yeah, I’ll let Harry know, thank you!”

Louis hangs up, and Harry is already looking at him expectantly. “What happened?” His eyebrows are furrowed and he’s got a little pout.

Louis grins, “So that was the label, and we’ve been nominated for three BRIT awards!” Louis jumps on top of Harry and kisses him all over his cheeks, lips and jaw.

Harry’s eyes get comically big and he cheers as they hug and kiss each other.

“God Lou, I’m so lucky to have you, I love you so much,” Harry tells him so earnestly, his eyes are sparkling and he’s looking at Louis with so much adoration Louis’ heart could burst.

“I love you too baby, so much. I couldn’t ask for anyone else.” Harry leans in to kiss him again, this time it’s soft and sweet.

The past year has had its ups and downs, and through it all, Louis has had Harry on his side. They’ve toured all over the world, and have gotten to meet so many amazing people. Larry Stylinson is still very much a thing, though Louis thinks it was never fake to begin with. They love to indulge their fans by posting selfies together occasionally, or tweeting each other sappy things. The fans eat it all up, and they support Harry and Louis 100%. They came clean to their team, and informed them that their relationship was very real, and since their following has only increased since they came out as a couple, they’re more than okay with it. They schedule a few pap outings here and there to keep Louis and Harry in the press, which they don’t mind doing. They still get to go on their own private dates and holidays together without having to worry about anyone invading their privacy.

“Lou?” Harry’s voice startles Louis out of his thoughts. He’s looking at Louis as if he’d just asked him something and he feels guilty for not having heard what it was.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Harry laughs, “I asked if you wanted to take a shower.” His voice is back to normal now, and his hair looks a bit frazzled from the dried up sweat, but Harry is still the most beautiful man Louis has ever seen.

Louis’ eyes crinkle at the sight of his gorgeous boyfriend, “Yeah, let’s go.”

As they head to the shower, Louis thinks over the amazing experiences he’s gotten to have, and in every single important moment, he’s had Harry by his side. Who knows what the future will bring, but as long as it includes Harry, Louis will consider himself the luckiest man in the world

**Author's Note:**

> Want me to write you your own fic? [Click here](https://comebackassholes.tumblr.com/post/173646347378/fics-and-betaing-for-charity). for more information!


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